Discriminatory Virginia Adoption Agencies See Cuts in State Funding

I have long opposed private and religious organizations that discriminate against members of the public receiving government funding.  Hypocritically, these organizations whine that cuts in government funding violate their religious freedom and/or freedom of speech yet conservatives and religious organizations had no problem with cuts in funding to artists and organizations that offended their religious sensibilities in the past.  Simply put, their is no right to receive government funding and, if an organization openly discriminates against segments of the population, they have forfeited any right to public funding.  Virginia lawmakers appear posed to implement this common sense and equitable rule by cutting funding to adoption agencies that refuse to work with LGBT couples and individuals. What is particularly cruel about such organizations is that they would rather leave children trapped in the foster home revolving door than allow them to find loving homes.  If discriminatory agencies cannot survive financially without the state dole, then perhaps they deserve to go out of business. A piece at NBC12 looks at the legislative effort,.  Here are highlights:

Virginia lawmakers are on the verge of rolling back a state law that allows faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies to refuse service to LGBTQ families.

The legislation has spurred heated debate, with representatives of Catholic charitable organizations arguing that being forced to serve gay couples would violate their faith and civil rights advocates decrying the existing rules as state-sanctioned discrimination.

“To say that we can’t place children because they’re in gay families, and therefore they have to age out of the foster care system and not have a loving home, is cruel to these children,” said Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, who proposed the repeal.

Virginia was the second state in the country to add what lawmakers called a “conscience clause” to its adoption laws in 2012 — language that guarantees religious adoption and foster care agencies the right to refuse any placement that “would violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”

Republican lawmakers, who then controlled the General Assembly and executive branch, passed the law a year after an unsuccessful push by LBGTQ groups to get the state’s social services board to revoke licenses from providers that engage in discrimination.

Now that Democrats control the legislature, some are ready to revisit the decision. A full repeal proposed by Levine passed the House on a party-line vote early this month.

Democrats in the Senate, however, said last week they are less comfortable with the measure, passing an amended version that would allow the groups to continue operating under the current rules, but cut state funding that helps finance their operations.