Agencies that get state money could reject gay and lesbian couples or non-Christians who want to be parents
By Ian Lovett | The Wall Street Journal
Texas is moving forward with a bill this week that would allow adoption-service providers that receive state money to turn down prospective parents based on religious beliefs.
The bill would allow agencies to deny adoptive services to gay and lesbian couples, unmarried couples or non-Christians. Supporters of the bill say it expands the range of service providers, and that gay couples could still adopt elsewhere. Critics call it state-funded discrimination.
The state is the latest to try to carve out exemptions for religiously affiliated adoption agencies, a fast-growing front in the fight over whether religious organizations, such as charities or hospitals but also businesses, have to serve LGBT people.
