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| Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council |
But not giddy enough to not to misdirect about Trump's proposal:
The Trump administration couldn't agree more. And on Friday, the first day of National Adoption Month, HHS kicked off the celebration by announcing a change years in the making. For the first time since Barack Obama, adoption agencies won't have to violate their faith -- or parents' wishes -- in placing kids. Under a new rule proposed by the president's team, faith-based providers will be able to continue to serve their communities in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs.
That doesn't mean same-sex couples can't adopt children. The liberal media -- and its hysterical headline writers -- would love for you to believe that. But this rule has nothing to do with outlawing gay adoption or discrimination of any kind. The same adoption agencies that matched other families with kids before this bill will still be matching them with kids after. That's because this debate has never been about banning LGBT adoption -- it's about letting everyone operate by their own set of beliefs.
You will notice what's not mentioned in that passage - any justification of LGBTQ tax dollars going to an entity which will discriminate against us. In fact, there is no mention of that conundrum in any part of FRC's piece, even though that is the main objection to Trump's proposal. Try as they might, neither Perkins, nor FRC, nor anyone supporting the proposal can't justify our tax dollars going to entities which will discriminate against us. Therefore they avoid that argument as much as they can.
We shouldn't let them ignore this. The LGBTQ community shouldn't allow ourselves to be put in a Catch-22 situation in which the narrative is that we have to choose between our rights as taxpayers and the ability of a child to have a family. That's false narrative. We aren't the ones who demanding to have things both ways. We aren't the ones thinking that we don't have to follow the same rules as everyone else. We are taxpayers and we should be treated with as much dignity and respect as heterosexual taxpayers. Religion should not be seen as an excuse to steal our monies, because that is what Trump's proposal is - wholesale theft.
To me as a gay man, it's downright humiliating to have an entity refuse to work with me on the basis that it finds my sexual orientation as sinful and then be freely given my hard earned tax dollars as governmental approval of its scorn. It's downright degrading. It's like being spit upon and then forced to fork over cash to the person doing the spitting. Don't be fooled by any spin given by the Family Research Council or any group favoring Trump's policy. It's not about religious liberty. It's about sending a message to the LGBTQ community that no matter how many battles we win or how many of us are out and thriving, we belong in second-class status and don't deserve respect because we aren't "normal."
If religious-based adoption and foster care agencies don't want to work with potential LGBTQ parents, then they shouldn't have their hands out demanding our hard earned tax dollars. If they feel that we are undeserving of their services, they should have the same negative point of view about grabbing our money.
