‘A Disgrace’

Kansas, Oklahoma Approve Religious Veto on Gay Adoptions

Protecting faith-based agencies that refuse to place children in homes violating religious beliefs.

State lawmakers in Oklahoma and Kansas have approved adoption measures that will allow faith-based adoption agencies to turn away would-be parents if they’re gay or non-Christian. The Kansas Senate approved a bill early Friday that would prevent agencies from being stopped from providing adoption services for the state if they refuse to place children in homes violating their religious beliefs. In Oklahoma, the state House approved similar legislation on a 56-21 vote Thursday. “What happened on the floor of the Oklahoma House and Senate today was a disgrace,” LGBT campaigner and Executive Director of Freedom Oklahoma Troy Stevenson told Reuters. “Leadership of both houses forced an unneeded, unwanted, and un-American bill onto the governor’s desk. This measure does nothing but keep Oklahoma’s most vulnerable youth out of loving and committed homes.”