LGBTQ+ community calls on Gov. Lee to veto foster parent bill
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The LGBTQ+ community is asking Gov. Bill Lee to veto a bill passed in the house Monday.
HB 2169 says the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) cannot require foster or adoptive parents to support a policy on sexual orientation or gender identity they disagree with. On the contrary, members of the Tennessee Equality Project would like to see more accepting parents within the adoption and foster care system.
“We already face this discrimination within the foster care system; I have worked in the foster care system and seen firsthand trans kids get rejected from homes because of their identity. This is just going to perpetrate that issue even further,” Tennessee Equality Project Education Manager Jace Wilder said.
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However, the bill’s sponsor, Mary Littleton, said the state needs more adoptive and foster parents.
“We should not make the mistake that other states have by excluding otherwise qualified parents from adopting or fostering simply because their religious and moral beliefs. This is to try and make the right place for the child,” Littleton said.
When pressed on the bill Monday, two lawmakers called Littleton out on repeatedly reciting and re-reading the legislation in response to their questions.
“I appreciate your preparation and script, but these questions, they’re going to be relatively easy,” state Rep. Justin Pearson (R-Memphis) prefaced one question.
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“Nowhere in the script that they prepared for you did you answer the question to say how can a child be protected and feel validated and flourish in an environment where they may be put in a home that says that because they are LGBTQ+ that they are wrong,” state Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) said.
However, Littleton said the intent was the exact opposite.
“If those parents have religious and moral beliefs against it and do not want the child in their home, this prevents that,” Littleton said. “And maybe the child wouldn’t want to go in that home.”
The bill said DCS can consider parents’ moral and religious beliefs when placing a child, but at the end of the day, this policy must coincide with placement based on the child’s best interest.
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“These kids are still going to be placed in these homes, and what they’re saying is a parent doesn’t have to accept their identity, and what we know statistically, these kids are more likely to end up running away from these homes, ending up in group homes,” Wilder said.
Lee has 10 days, excluding Sunday, to sign the bill. If he does not, it will still pass, unless he vetoes the legislation.
“This is a bill that is a solution in search of a problem. This is a bill about legislating hate,” Jones said.
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