Coming on top of its xenophobic racial profiling law and the decision to help balance the state budget by cutting funding for organ transplants, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law yesterday S.B. 1188, which gives a specific preference to married different-sex couples over “singles” (i.e., everyone else–including, especially, same-sex couples) in both public and private adoption agency placements. The bill also contains accompanying requirements for reporting regarding the marital status of adoptive parents.
In the Arizona Republic story on the bill, the bill is justified by its supporters in the following terms:
Conservative groups and other supporters of the measure said children should have every opportunity to grow up in a household with a mother and father.
But, given the shortage of adoptive parents, doesn’t this justification ring hollow? Are we really helping children by waging the culture wars at their expense rather than doing everything we can to find them a good home? Take a look at this quote at the end of the article, which is far more revealing, especially for what it does not say:
But Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy and a strong advocate of SB 1188, said Monday that the bill was among those that dealt with “critical issues of life, marriage and religious liberty,” and that she was “grateful” for the governor’s support.
See any mention of children in there?
-Tony Infanti
