News Round-Up: May 21, 2018

(via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Model Nick Sandell spent time at the beach; I was stuck in my office watching the sun go by. By the time I got done with work, the dang clouds had rolled in :(

• Andy Warhol's iconic Interview Magazine has shuttered. Employees were told today at an "all-hands meeting" that the magazine had folded.

• A proposal to include discussions on the topics of transgender, sexual orientation and sexual identity in Fort Worth, Texas, public schools has found it's protesters.

• As other states are trying to limit LGBTs ability to adopt or foster homeless children, Connecticut is actively trying to recruit members of the community to participate in adoption/fostering.

• Pope Francis told a gay man that God made him exactly as he is, and that God loves him just as he is.

• GLAAD and Bonnier Publishing USA have teamed up to release a children’s book series featuring LGBT stories (see below).

Kansas & Oklahoma Legislatures Approve Anti-LGBTQ Adoption Bills

We were looking good there, America.

Four months into 2018 and no new anti-LGBTQ legislation on the state level. Until this week.

Both Oklahoma and Kansas have passed bills that will allow faith-based adoption and foster care services to legally discriminate against LGBT folks while using public funds.

In Oklahoma, the House approved the measure by a vote of 56-21 on Thursday this week after the state Senate had previously voted to advance the bill.

Kansas followed just hours later as the Senate approved the bill 24-15 at 1:51 a.m. Friday after the House passed it Thursday night, 63-58.

The legislation had been sitting for weeks before lawmakers revived and passed it in a matter of hours.

Both bills now head to their respective governors' desks to be signed into law.

More from The Advocate:

The bills could allow discrimination against many types of prospective parents who offend an agency’s religious beliefs — single parents, divorced and remarried parents, interfaith couples, and more, in addition to LGBT individuals and same-sex couples, Winterhof pointed out. But Oklahoma Senate Majority Leader Greg Treat, who authored his state’s legislation, mentioned that when agencies express objections to certain placements, they often cite opposition to same-sex marriage, the Family Equality Council noted.

Opponents of both states’ measures said the legislation would make the already-overloaded child welfare system even more so by making fewer people eligible to become foster or adoptive parents. But supporters said the religious protections would encourage more faith-based agencies to work with the states.

Texas, Alabama, South Dakota, Virginia, and Michigan have similar laws in place, NBC reports. Michigan’s is being challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union.

What's truly sad is this reduces the number of possible adoptive homes for children who really need loving parents.

Bigotry at the expense of children.

Republicans Hope To Legalize Anti-LGBT Discrimination

Look out for more anti-LGBT action in Congress as the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (CWPIA) has been introduced in both chambers of Congress.

Currently pending in the House as H.R. 1881, and in the Senate as S. 811, the legislation seeks to legalize LGBQ discrimination by allowing adoption providers to use "sincerely held religious beliefs" as a basis for denying gays or lesbians adoption services.

"Prohibits the federal government, and any state or local government that receives federal funding for any program that provides child welfare services under part B (Child and Family Services) or part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSAct), from discriminating or taking an adverse action against a child welfare service provider that declines to provide, facilitate, or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts with the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions."

The bill would require the Health and Human Services department to withhold 15% of federal funds from state or local governments that take action against folks who would exercise their right to discriminate against LGBTs.

#BadNews

Of course, the haters love the hateful bill:

If federal lawmakers want to show they care about children and families, there's perhaps no better opportunity in the near term than by passing the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (CWPIA). #adoption https://t.co/50ga42L03D

— FRC (@FRCdc) April 20, 2018

Heritage Action supports the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act because it prioritizes children over politics: https://t.co/lCk7VzrvTD

— Heritage Action (@Heritage_Action) May 19, 2017

Georgia Senate Committee Approves Anti-LGBTQ Adoption Bill

A Georgia state Senate committee has approved an anti-LGBTQ bill that would allow adoption agencies to refuse to place children with same-sex couples based on "sincerely-held religious beliefs."

The legislation would also keep the Georgia Department of Human Services from taking any “adverse action” against such agencies who chose to discriminate against LGBTs.

Senate Bill 375, also known as the "Keep Faith in Adoption and Foster Care Act," passed in the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee this morning on a party line vote. Only the two Democrats voted against the measure.

There were no public comments allowed during the committee meeting and the bill now head to the Senate floor for a vote.

Jeff Graham, Georgia Equality’s Executive Director, issued this statement:

“There are no winners with SB 375. This bill does not help the thousands of young people in our state’s adoption and foster care system. It does not help loving parents who are looking to open their homes to children in need, either through fostering or adoption.

"It does not help our state’s economic image – particularly at this crucial juncture in our bid to bring up to 50,000 new and high-paying jobs to our state through Amazon.

"There are only losers with this bill: children denied permanent and loving homes, and potential parents coldly turned away simply because of who they are.”

(source)

Uplifting: Homeless Teen Finds His Sister And More

Put up for adoption as a toddler, eventually the victim of a failed adoption, Seth Miller was phased out of "the system" at the age of 18.

Homeless and living in his car, he felt "Everything around me was pretty much empty."

And then, thanks to a news report, something amazing happened. He found his birth sister, and even more.

Watch the report below by WFAA in Texas as Seth Miller becomes Logan Hunt.

p.s. Grab a tissue - you'll need it.

Russia stops all adoptions to Sweden due to marriage equality

Russian officials have decided that, due to same-sex marriage in Sweden, they will no longer allow ANY adoptions by any couples in Sweden to take place:

"It's terrible. We have 13 children in Russian orphanages today who have been offered to parents in Sweden who they have actually met," said Jonas Friberg at the Adoptioncentrum agency in Sweden to Sveriges Television (SVT).

Russian politician Vitaly Milonov meanwhile called homosexuals "perverts" in an interview with SVT broadcast on Thursday, arguing that children would be better off staying in Russian orphanages.

"The perverts? No, it is unacceptable. Homosexuals are 'perverts' and should absolutely not be allowed to adopt children," he said. "Children who grow up in that kind of environment are destroyed psychologically."

(via The Local)

Russia: Putin signs adoption ban for foreign gay couples

This is very sad for so many children without parents.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill barring same-sex couples from foreign countries from adopting Russian children.

The legislature passed the law after France established legal marriage equality rights for gay and lesbian couples in May. The Russian measure is "aimed at guaranteeing a harmonious and full upbringing for children in adoptive families," according to the Huffington Post.

According to the Associated Press, this law limits adoption possibilities for 600,000 Russian children who do not have parental custody.

(source)

If you don't want gays to adopt...

From One Million Supporters of LGBT Equality FB page.

Mitt Romney - in true fashion - flipflops on gay adoption

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday backed away from his support of adoptions by same-sex couples, saying that he simply "acknowledges" the legality of such adoptions in many states.

Mitt Romney said on Thursday: "And if two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child -- in my state individuals of the same sex were able to adopt children. In my view, that's something that people have a right to do. But to call that marriage is something that in my view is a departure from the real meaning of that word."

But then on Friday, he was asked, in an interview with CBS' WBTV in Charlotte, N.C., how his opposition to same-sex marriage "squared" with his support for gay adoptions. Romney told anchor Paul Cameron: "Well actually I think all states but one allow gay adoption, so that's a position which has been decided by most of the state legislators, including the one in my state some time ago. So I simply acknowledge the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one."
(source)

Switzerland considering adoption by gays

Adoption by gays may be coming to Switzerland soon.

The upper house of the Swiss parliament on Thursday approved legalizing adoptions by gay couples.

The Council of States voted 21-19 on the legislation, which would allow gay couples in registered partnerships to adopt. Politicians supporting the new law say it reflects the reality of Swiss families in 2012.

The lower house must now consider the legislation.

IL Catholic Charities end all adoption services to avoid allowing gays to adopt

From ThinkProgress: Following up on their threat, Catholic Charities of Rockford, IL, have voluntarily ended all their adoption and foster care services rather than comply with the civil unions law that will take effect next week.

In doing so, the organization terminated $7.5 million in state contracts, fired 58 workers, and likely displaced 350 foster children. Diocese spokeswoman Penny Wiegert attempted to blame the government for not protecting charities’ ability to discriminate against same-sex couples:

The law of our land has always guaranteed its people freedom of religion. Denying this exemption to faith-based agencies leads one to believe that our lawmakers prefer laws that guarantee freedom from religion.

But the decision had nothing to do with the children (who will do just fine with same-sex families) and nothing to do with religious liberty. It was a blatant choice to prefer discrimination and stigmatization of gays and lesbians over the ability to do important, charitable work.

This is only the latest example of how out of touch Church leaders are with its members. A March poll from the Public Religion Research Institute demonstrated that Catholics overwhelmingly support marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples (74 percent), but that number has been consistently over 60 percent since at least 2008. In Rhode Island, 63 percent of Catholics support full marriage equality, but Church leaders have been instrumental in holding back the progress of legislation there.