New Tennessee law allows agencies to deny adoption for LGBTQ couples
LGBT advocacy group leaders and representatives from businesses gathered at the Cordell Hull legislative building in Nashville on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020 for a news conference to oppose a state adoption law and other proposals that target the LGBT community. Almost three dozen big companies and more than 100 small businesses in Tennessee predicted economic backlash from a newly enacted state adoption law and other proposals that target LGBT people. One company says plans to add jobs in Nashville are "in doubt" over the legislation. (AP Photo/Jonathan Mattise)
Correction: An earlier version of this article erroneously claimed faith-based agencies were already being denied federal funding for refusing service.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recently signed a controversial bill into law, giving foster care and adoption agencies the ability to deny service to LGBTQ couples on the grounds of religious or moral beliefs.
The bill was passed by the Tennessee Senate last month and has since garnered widespread criticism. Major companies, such as Amazon and Nike, have expressed disappointment over the anti-LGBTQ adoption proposal.
According to CNBC, Amazon, which plans to be the largest employer in Nashville, released a statement on the bill.
“Amazon does not support this legislation” Amazon stated. “We have a long history of supporting equality, and we’re opposed to laws that discriminate or encourage discrimination.” Other companies that denounce the bill include Warby Parker, Lyft, IKEA, Marriott and several others.
“Adoption agencies should have the right to deny services to LGBTQ couples if they want, but I don't think there's a good reason they should utilize that right,” said junior anthropology major Natalie Schutz.
She added that all businesses should have the freedom to make decisions, but they should respectfully proceed with business.
“The governor believes that protection of rights is important, especially religious liberty,” said Gillum Ferguson, a spokesman for Gov. Lee. “This bill is centered around protecting the religious liberty of Tennesseans and that’s why he signed it.”
Ruth Wienk, an assistant professor of sociology, said it is important to look at the consequences of this bill. She cited sociologist Robert Murton’s concept of “manifest and latent functions.”
The concept states manifest functions as “those with objective consequences contributing to the adaptation of the system, which are intended,” while latent functions are "those which are neither intended nor recognized."
Wienk said the bill is vague and allows for these consequences to vary and result in uncertain situations.
“The bill doesn’t limit any agencies. Hence, this policy can be adopted by any businesses to discriminate against any other beliefs,” said Wienk. “Interest groups can be licensed and easily promote their discriminating beliefs. For example: stop kids from going to multicultural families.”
Weink added that foster care agencies are not equipped with holistic development, while a family is uniquely equipped to help children make a smooth transition to adulthood.
An online petition titled "This Anti LGBTQ+ anti adoption law needs to be repealed. All kids deserve a loving family," was launched on Jan. 15 in response to the bill.
"With the restrictions on abortion in this state, foster care and adoption centers will soon be full of children and babies just needing a loving home," wrote Joshua Lindsey, who created the petition. "The amount of citizens adopting is already scarce enough, this law will only add to the problem."
The petition now has more than 6,000 of the requested 7,500 signatures.
Schutz added that preventing healthy same-sex couples from adopting is harming the agencies and kids who need a home.
“There are a lot of children in the system who are living in unstable living situations,” said Schutz. “It is harmful to children's developmental and emotional well being. Children raised in foster care are at risk of getting abused, falling behind in school and other health disorders.”
The data drawn from the National Survey of Children’s Health shows children raised in foster care are two to three times more likely to suffer from a host of conditions ranging from learning disabilities, anxiety and behavioral problems to asthma, obesity and vision problems.
A handful of states have enacted similar legislation. These include Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, South Dakota, North Dakota, Virginia and Mississippi.
For more information, click here to view the full letter from over 130 businesses.
