Last week, the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 1304, which would allow state-funded adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate based on their religious beliefs.
Tomorrow morning, the Senate will hold the final vote to pass this harmful bill into law.
SB 1304 would create new religious exemptions that would allow adoption and foster care placement agencies to discriminate against atheists and nonbelievers, religious minorities, single parents, LGBTQ people, or any other group of people they disfavor.
This kind of discrimination would reduce the number of potential adoptive parents, making children in these systems less likely to find a loving, permanent home.
Sponsors of this bill claim that religious child placement agencies in other states have been forced to close due to same-sex marriage—but that is simply untrue. Instead, these agencies have a choice: they can either receive government funds or they can discriminate. It is unfair to Tennessee taxpayers, would-be parents, and especially the children involved to allow agencies to discriminate using state funds.
