A state House committee could vote Wednesday on bills to shield faith-based adoption agencies from having to serve LGBT couples if the US Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage. The bills would allow agencies that take money from the state for placing children with families to turn away same-sex couples.
There would have to be a sincere religious objection and a good-faith effort to refer the couples to another adoption service. The expected vote by the House Committee on Families, Children and Seniors comes as arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on same-sex marriage draw near.
The arguments should take place in late April. In the meantime, some faith-based adoption services say they don’t want to be forced into violating their religious beliefs if the court legalizes same-sex marriage. Backers say it will ensure faith-based adoption services can continue to do their work no matter how the Supreme Court rules. But civil rights groups say it will allow the agencies to continue to discriminate and make it harder to place children in permanent homes.
A federal judge last year found research supporting that position to be a compelling reason to strike down Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage.