While I will concede that Tim Kaine is preferable as a U.S. Senator over say George Allen or some Tea Party lunatic, he is not the strongest of LGBT advocates. He certainly was not as Governor of Virginia when he did nothing but lip service in terms of enforcing his own Executive Order that allegedly protected state employees from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Thus, I am anything but surprised that Kaine will not commit on the issue of gay couples adopting - a fire storm that has the Christofascists at The Family Foundation in hyperventilation and their mouth pieces like Del. Bob Marshall all but calling for the Christianist version of Sharia law. True, Kaine will be running for a federal rather than state office. But, if Kaine had any guts, he'd unequivocally state that there is nowhere under the U.S. Constitution for those acting on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia or receiving a single dollar of state, federal or local funding to discriminate against gays because of the organization's religious based bigotry. Either stop discriminating or cease acting in place of the state and/or accepting a dollar of taxpayer derived funding. The Washington Post looks at Kaine's game of silence (SIDE NOTE: actually Virginia law is silent on the issue of gay couples adopting and/or second gay parents adopting and there are no reported court decision on the issue. Most of my clients adopt in gay friendly states and then return to Virginia):*
U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine dodged a question this week on whether he believes gay couples should be able to adopt children in Virginia despite being consistently opposed to unmarried couples — heterosexual or homosexual — adopting in the past.
*
“No couples in Virginia can adopt other than a married couple -- that’s the right policy,’’ Kaine said in 2005 when running for governor. “Gay individuals should be able to adopt.”
*
But asked twice about the issue at a news conference this week, Kaine declined to answer whether he supports gay couples adopting children.
*
Kaine, who resigned Tuesday as chairman of the Democratic National Committee to begin his Senate campaign, said he supports a proposed regulation initiated when he was governor that would prohibit private and faith-based groups, such as Catholic Charities and Jewish Family Services, from discriminating against gay parents. But, Kaine said, it would not allow unmarried couple to adopt, because that is barred by Virginia law.
*
“It was started during my time as governor without my active involvement although I definitely support it,’’ Kaine told reporters at his first news conference as a candidate this week. “I will state unequivocally I do not believe that agencies that work in adoption should discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation or any other grounds other than the best interest of the child. That should the be the criteria.”
*
The proposed regulation, according to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office, would require that unmarried couples — heterosexual or homosexual — be able to adopt because no agencies, including faith-based groups would be able to turn them away. But Kaine says he disagrees with that interpretation.
*
Fifty-seven Republican members of the House of Delegates, including Speaker Bill Howell (Stafford) and Majority Leader Kirk Cox (Colonial Heights) sent McDonnell a letter asking him “to do everything in his authority” to kill the regulations.
*
The Human Rights Campaign, along with the North American Council on Adoptable Children and the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, also sent letters to McDonnell and social services board members asking for the regulations to be enacted.
*
“This is about children, not about politics,” HRC President Joe Solmonese said. “Thousands of children could finally find their forever families and have the opportunity for a happy, healthy life if these regulations are enacted. We ask the governor to think about the children and we hope the State Board of Social Services is ultimately guided by the best practices established by the child welfare profession, and not by discriminatory motivations that create barriers to permanent families for Virginia’s children.”
*
It is important to recognize that the real issues for the Christianists/Republicans is not about the best interests of children, religious freedom or any of the things they claim. Rather, it is all about keeping gay couples inferior under the laws of Virginia. Currently, our relationships receive less recognition than my ownership of my pet Chihuahua.
No comments:
Post a Comment