VIRGINIA –The Virginia State Board of Social Services has voted to strip legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, disability, political beliefs and family status from final rules governing licensed adoption and foster care agencies.
The proposed rules amended by the Board have been pending since fall 2009, before the recent change in administrations, and were approved for publication as proposed rules by the current administration early in 2010. At the eleventh hour, Governor Bob McDonnell expressed a preference for keeping the nondiscrimination rule unchanged (banning only discrimination based on race, national origin and ethnicity), and the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services placed that recommendation before the Board for action.
James Parrish, Executive Director of Equality Virginia said, “We need to change the law so that Virginia’s children in foster care and waiting for adoption are not denied the opportunity to have a loving home and two parents to care for them based on factors, such as the sexual orientation of the prospective parents, which have nothing to do with the children’s best interests.”
