Anti-Gay Adoption Bill Introduced in Tennessee

Tennessee State Senator Paul Stanley has introduced a bill outlawing adoption to LGBT people in the state. SB0078 reads:

Adoption – Prohibits any individual who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution and laws of this state from adopting a minor. – Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 49.

Fiscal Summary
Not Available

Bill Summary
The Tennessee Constitution provides that “the historical institution and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman shall be the only legally recognized marital contract in this state.”

This bill prohibits certain individuals from adopting a minor child. Under this bill, any individual who is living with another person and is involved in a sexual relationship with that person (“cohabitating”) outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution would not be allowed to adopt a minor child. This bill states that it would apply to cohabitating opposite-sex and same-sex individuals.

While the bill would apply to straight couples and single people as well as gay couples, Senator Stanley clarified his intentions to ONN, James Dobson’s Donald Wildmon’s propaganda site.

The bill is sponsored by Senator Paul Stanley (R-Memphis) who tells OneNewsNow he discovered a problem with the adoption process.

“We were having a lot of [unmarried] individuals apply to adopt children from state custody….And while single people can make very good parents, what we were finding is that some of those individuals were in same-sex relationships,” he points out. “And we just thought it was not advantageous to have children who are the responsibility of the state being placed in such homes.”

Stanley believes married, heterosexual couples provide the best climate for raising children. “I don’t think you can put a child in a home with two individuals of the same sex and meet the needs — the emotional, the physical, the mental needs of that child to be a well-developed child as they move into adulthood,” he contends.

Senator Stanley failed to cite any credible research verifying his claim. In the words of Circuit Judge Cindy S. Lederman in her Florida ruling last November, “there is no rational basis to preclude homosexuals from adopting.”

If passed, SB0078 would be a travesty for would-be gay parents, but more important is the effect on children in the Tennessee foster/adoption system. Much like the amendment passed in Arkansas last November, it would remove children from the custody of their single grandparents and other unmarried family members and place them in a state foster home.

The Arkansas amendment is being challenged by the ACLU. Go here to learn how laws like Tennessee SB0078 affect children.

Make note: The religious right is willing to sacrifice the welfare of children to keep LGBT rights at bay.