Illinois Senator Tries To Sneak Through an Anti-Gay Adoption Bill
Just when things start going pretty well, something pops up and throws a wrench in the whole endeavor. That’s how it is for me, anyway, and that’s how it is for LGBT people living in Illinois this week.It only took a couple of months after Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the civil union bill into law for the haters to strike again. State Senator David Koehler has slipped an amendment that would make it legal for religious institutions to discriminate against LGBT people in adoption and foster care.
Oh, and did I mention that the bill this is attached to is designed to help the blind? That’s low, man.
So, I guess it’s more important to allow religious adoption agencies to be allowed to turn away perfectly good parents for no good reason, than to allow kids who need parents to live with gay people. All in the name of God, I guess. This is just another instance where people try to hide behind religion in order to justify personal biases, and the legislature totally has their backs.
Sometimes I feel like I’m missing something very important that makes this make sense. But the more I think about it, the more confused I get. Maybe that’s where I’m going wrong.
To attach this amendment to a bill that is designed to help the blind is a truly insidious act. Who wants to vote against blind people? Sen. Koehler knows he doesn’t have the support; otherwise, why try to hide it? If anti-gay representatives are going to try to force a hateful bill through legislators, they should be forced to do it in the light of day, where their policy positions can be subject to the ridicule they deserve.
This is an attempt by Illinois legislators to roll back the civil union law that hasn’t even gone into effect yet.Tell the Illinois senate to reject such an amendment and any bill to which it is attached. It’s the right thing to do.
Photo credit: nathanmac87
Mindy Townsend is a recent law graduate.
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