TN House GOP passes protections for anti-LGBTQ foster parents as parental leave bill fails

Tennessee House Republicans on Monday passed legislation to block the state Department of Children's Services from excluding potential adoptive or foster parents who hold anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs for "religious or moral" reasons, which sponsors argued was necessary to grow the pool of foster families in the state.

But dozens of Republicans later voted down a separate bill to establish a paid parental leave program for state employees who become foster parents, saying people would "manipulate" the program for extra vacation time.

The Republican sponsors of the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, HB 2169, have argued the legislation will protect prospective foster families from being blocked from fostering children altogether if they decline to care for a gay or trans foster child, but Democrats criticized the legislation as potentially dangerous if children are sent to "hostile" environments where they aren't supported or accepted.

"The real concern of this bill is to strengthen the pool of available parents who are able to foster," Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson, said. "Placements should always be made and consistent in the best interests of the child."

Senate Republicans passed SB 1738 in March. With the House vote, the legislation will now go to Gov. Bill Lee's desk for his signature.

The legislation does not block the department from considering the beliefs or background of a child in relation to the potential family's beliefs, meaning DCS could, in theory, withhold potential placements from families who are religiously opposed to certain sexual or gender identities. Littleton argued the legislation is in the "best interest" of children, though Democrats pointed out the bill, named the Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act, is specifically written to protect foster parents, not foster children.

"This legislation isn’t concerned, in a very meaningful way, about the children. In fact, with each answer, you told me about the parents not being discriminated against, but we have to be worried about the children and prioritizing the children in our care who are LGBTQI," said Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, in a debate with Littleton on Monday.

Bill sponsors have specifically cited a need to protect potential adoptive and foster families from being required to affirm or support "sexual orientation or gender identity."

Lance Kinzer, policy director for 1st Amendment Partnership, has testified in support of the bill, arguing protections were needed not to require states to place LGBTQ+ youth with anti-LGBTQ+ families, but to expand the pool of potential foster parents.

"A number of states are beginning to recognize to have a blanket prohibition is not in the best interest of children in Tennessee, or any state, because you're going to drive a significant number of prospective foster and adoptive parents out of the system entirely, and that's not the best for anyone," Kinzer said.

LGBTQ+ advocates decried the legislation as dangerous for young people who identify as LGBTQ+. These youth are often "overrepresented" in the foster care system, in part due to rejection from their families due to their LGBTQ+ status.

Cathryn Oakley, senior director of legal policy for the Human Rights Campaign, said children who are going through a "deeply traumatic" situation in foster care deserve to be in a home that "cares and supports them."

"Placing these children in homes where the fundamental truth of who they are will not be honored is in no one's best interest," Oakley said. "Not their best interest, not the state's interest, not the interest of the parents either. This bill would allow potential adoptive and foster parents to subject children to the abusive, discredited practice of so-called conversion therapy."

Rep. William Slater, R-Gallatin, sponsored the foster parental leave bill, HB 1554, which previously passed the Senate on a nearly unanimous vote. Rep. Bryan Richey, R-Maryville, criticized the bill in the House debate, arguing foster parents would "manipulate" the system to gain more time off of work.

The bill failed to receive a necessary 50-vote majority to pass.

Though more lawmakers voted for the legislation than against it, with 23 Republicans joining Democrats in favor of the bill, 42 Republicans voted against it. Another eight Republicans declined to vote on it altogether.

Bills latest in GOP efforts

The legislation is the latest Tennessee effort to carve out Republican-backed protections for anti-LGBTQ+ adoptive efforts, in addition to weakening requirements for foster families based on personal beliefs.

Republican lawmakers last month passed legislation to strip foster family vaccine requirements, which have long been in place to protect infants and children made vulnerable by medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis. The bill, which was sent to Lee's desk on Monday, now prohibits the Tennessee Department of Children's Services from requiring foster parents to get the flu or whooping cough vaccine, regardless of the medical vulnerabilities of the child.

Though it aligns with an increasingly ascendant anti-vaccine aim of the GOP supermajority, Republicans again argued the bill was necessary to allow more families to join the foster care system. Democrats and medical professionals warned it could endanger medically vulnerable children in the foster care system, who already face an uphill battle getting their own vaccines, thanks to legislation passed last year that requires DCS obtain a court order to vaccinate most children in their care.

Separately, Republicans in 2020 codified legal protections for private adoption agencies to refuse to place a child with a family because of "religious or moral convictions," even if the private agency benefits from public funding. Opponents of the law called it openly discriminatory toward LGBTQ+ families seeking to adopt, but the law was later used by a state-sponsored Christian adoption agency to refuse to work with a Jewish couple.

The couple sued Tennessee over the law.

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti last year spearheaded a multi-state opposition to a proposed federal rule that would require states place LGBTQ+ youth in state facilities and foster families free "of hostility, mistreatment, or abuse" based on a child's LGBTQ+ status. The proposed rule would require states ensure foster or adoptive families were properly trained to support and provide age-appropriate resources to kids.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN House passes bill to protect foster parents with anti-LGBTQ views