Texas Gov. Signs Anti-LGBT ‘Religious Freedom’ Adoption Bill

By: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

AUSTIN, TX — Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the anti-LGBT discrimination law on Thursday which would allow adoption agencies who continue to receive taxpayer funds, to refuse any placement of children with same-sex parents and/or any other parents that the agencies feel that those parents are living a lifestyle offensive to an adoption agency worker’s – now get this…“sincerely held religious beliefs”!

The new text in the anti-LGBT adoption law states:

“A child welfare services provider may not be required to provide any service that conflicts with the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Under House Bill 3859 that was signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, which does not specifically mention LGBT couples, states that “Agency employees who issue refusals on such religious grounds will then be required to refer the denied parents or children to another organization.”

The bill’s original sponsor, GOP Rep. James Frank who represents the Wichita Falls district, said..“HB 3859 bans no one.”

The bill is so broadly-based! The new law also allows for faith-based organizations to refuse to work with other organizations that do not share their religious outlook, to place children in religious schools, and to deny referrals for certain types of medical care.

House Bill 3859 passed with the majority of GOP-controlled assembly members in the statehouse. However five democrats voted for Bill 3859.

Controversial from the start, House Bill 3859 was contested with serious heat during the legislative period. The committee hearings were explosive and at times go personal. House Bill 3859 passed in both the Texas House and Senate and signed by Gov. Abbott on Thursday. Even with multiple attempts to soften the language and limit the scope of the bill failed badly.

Sarah Kate Ellis, the CEO of GLAAD, a civil rights advocacy group, released a statement on the law’s passage:

“This law was never about the best interests of Texans or of children, but about forwarding a political agenda to codify the permission to discriminate against LGBTQ Texans into state law. Discrimination has won in Texas, and it saddens me that a child can now be denied the chance to live with a deserving family simply because they are LGBTQ.”