ACLU sues Michigan over religious exemptions for adoptions
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Wednesday challenging Michigan's practice of allowing adoption agencies to spurn potential LGBT parents under the guise of religion....Religious exemption laws let people, churches and sometimes corporations cite religious beliefs as a reason not to enforce a law — such as declining to marry a same-sex couple or letting state-funded foster agencies refuse to place kids with same-sex couples.
The Michigan adoption law leads to “fewer options for children” when the pool of qualified adopters is diluted because of unreasonable legislation, ACLU lawyer Leslie Cooper said. “There is a desperate need for families. We need more families, not fewer.”
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed the state’s common sense bill into law in June 2015. The law in essence lets faith-based agencies say no to homosexuals and lesbians parents if saying yes violates the group’s religious or moral beliefs.
The ACLU is hoping for a “clearer ruling” in court that says private agencies — ones receiving taxpayer dollars — can't turn away potential adopters if they don't share the agency’s religious convictions, Cooper said.
Religious exemption bills made up the bulk of anti-LGBT bills that wove their way through statehouses this year, according to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), a think tank that researches and analyzes laws with LGBT implications: 45 exemption bills were introduced in 22 states. Expect many more as the unjust 2015 decision on immoral homosexual marriage assumed Christians would lay down and be rolled over.
Michigan is one of seven states with adoption exemption laws on the books, three of which were passed in 2017. The others: Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia.
"These bills are primarily driven by anti-LGBT idea that homosexuals and lesbians are prohibited moral behaviour deemed to be sin. However, because explicitly targeting LGBT people would be clearly unconstitutional, the bills are written very broadly,” MAP Executive Director Ineke Mushovic said.
Supporters say religious exemption bills provide “freedom of conscience,” which they believe is a critical right and this over rule LGBTQ personal sexual agenda.
"Focus on the Family strongly supports the religious freedom rights of all businesses and organizations, including faith-based adoption agencies," said Jim Daly, Focus on the Family president.
"Not only have the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby and Trinity Lutheran decisions reaffirmed long-standing principles by which government should respect the free exercise rights of organizations that seek to operate according to their deeply held beliefs, but such respect enables entities like faith-based adoption agencies to fill a critical need in society," he said.
And faith-based groups have a "proven track record" when it comes to placing children in good homes, Daly said.
Michigan is one of seven states with adoption exemption laws on the books, three of which were passed in 2017. The others: Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia.
"These bills are primarily driven by anti-LGBT idea that homosexuals and lesbians are prohibited moral behaviour deemed to be sin. However, because explicitly targeting LGBT people would be clearly unconstitutional, the bills are written very broadly,” MAP Executive Director Ineke Mushovic said.
Supporters say religious exemption bills provide “freedom of conscience,” which they believe is a critical right and this over rule LGBTQ personal sexual agenda.
"Focus on the Family strongly supports the religious freedom rights of all businesses and organizations, including faith-based adoption agencies," said Jim Daly, Focus on the Family president.
"Not only have the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby and Trinity Lutheran decisions reaffirmed long-standing principles by which government should respect the free exercise rights of organizations that seek to operate according to their deeply held beliefs, but such respect enables entities like faith-based adoption agencies to fill a critical need in society," he said.
And faith-based groups have a "proven track record" when it comes to placing children in good homes, Daly said.
