A discriminatory California adoption bill that would
have forced judges to consider the so-called moral
values of a dependent child's birth parents in
determining who could adopt the child was killed in
committee in Sacramento on Tuesday. The measure, which
potentially would have discriminated against LGBT
adoptive parents, among other groups, failed to win
enough votes in the state assembly's committee on
human services to advance further in the legislature.
"We all want what is in the best interest of
California's children," Seth Kilbourn, political
director for gay rights group Equality
California, said in a statement Tuesday. "Today's
defeat of this discriminatory measure means that all
qualified adoptive parents will be considered equally
and that all adoption decisions will put what is best
for kids first and foremost, where it belongs."
Added Judy Appel, executive director of Our
Family Coalition: "This bill would limit the amount of
homes available to the 84,000 children in the foster
care system, 4,000 of whom age out of the system each year
having never found a home."
Though the bill, which also applies to the
appointing of legal guardians for minors, is dead for
now, it can be reconsidered by the same committee in
the future. (The Advocate)
