After the national outcry over anti-LGBT “religious freedom” legislation passed in Indiana, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) made it clear that he would veto such a bill. Two months later, similar measures have now been sent to his desk for consideration.
On Wednesday, the Senate passed three bills (HB 4188, HB 4189, and HB 4190) that would empower state-subsidized child placement agencies — foster care and adoption agencies — to discriminate for religious reasons without risk of losing their taxpayer funding. Specifically, the legislation says that the state cannot “take an adverse action” against such an agency based on its decision to discriminate, including denying funding, refusing to renew funding, canceling funding, declining to enter into a contract, refusing to renew a contract, canceling a contract, declining to issue a license, refusing to renew the license, canceling the license, or refusing access to participation in a government program.
If an agency wants to engage in discrimination, all that it has to do is have a “written policy, statement of faith, or other document” that outlines its religious beliefs. Then, it can apply those religious beliefs to discriminate against whoever it wishes. There was an attempt to add an amendment saying the agencies at least had to follow the state civil rights law (which is currently not LGBT-inclusive), but that amendment failed. Currently, state law already forbids same-sex adoption, though that law would likely be overturned along with the Supreme Court’s impending marriage equality decision. Even still, this legislation would also allow adoption agencies to refuse single parents, people who were previously divorced, or conceivably even interracial couples or would-be parents who practice a different religion from the agency.
In other words, religious organizations would have free license to use state money to provide a service but refuse that service to anybody. The intention to allow agencies to discriminate is actually far more explicit than many other “religious freedom” bills tend to be. Snyder has said he wants to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s civil rights law — the very opposite intention as this package of bills.
The Williams Institute estimates that about 3,460 adopted children and 250 foster kids are already being raised by LGB individuals and same-sex couples in Michigan in spite of state law prohibiting same-sex adoption. There are 105 child placement agencies in Michigan, and the bills would require that an agency that refuses service refer clients to one of the others.
Update:
Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed the package of bills into law on Thursday. Justifying the legislation that actually allows agencies to limit which families they consider for children, Snyder claimed, “The state has made significant progress in finding more forever homes for Michigan kids in recent years and that wouldn’t be possible without the public-private partnerships that facilitate the adoption process. We are focused on ensuring that as many children are adopted to as many loving families as possible regardless of their makeup.”
As of 2013, Michigan had the fifth highest number of children in public foster care waiting to be adopted, with only California, Arizona, Texas, and New York reporting more children without permanent homes.