The bill was rejected after lawmakers in the House of Representatives blocked its passage.
Kansas has rejected a bid to make it legal for adoption agencies to stop same-sex couples from adopting on religious grounds. The legislation was rejected by 64 to 58.
The bill had previously passed through The Senate by 28 to 12, despite concerns being raised that the bill was homophobic. A conference committee is now expected to negotiate a final draft of the bill.
At the moment, same-sex couples can legally adopt in every U.S. state, but Republican senators are trying to pass laws in some states that ill make it legal for adoption agencies to reject same-sex couples.
The Kansas bill was heavily criticised, even by some Republicans. Sen. Barbara Rollier said that the bill was “sick discrimination.” She told The Wichita Eagle: “And these are people who can love and adopt children and are doing so. So to say it is not discriminatory, I beg to differ.”
Democratic Senator Lynn Rogers said: “Many same-sex families have not had the same freedom of what someone termed traditional families because they haven’t been allowed to be foster parents in some cases.
“There are some inequities in the system.”
However, the House’s President, Susan Wagle insisted that the bill wasn’t discriminatory, and said that it would protect Catholic charities and be the “right thing” to do.
However, even though this bill has been rejected for the time being, it’s not all plain sailing for the LGBTQ community in Kansas. Recently, Republicans in the state have said that they plan to fight against the “validation” of trans identity.
Part of the adopted resolution read: “Many have sought to normalise transgenderism and define gender according to one’s self-perception apart from biological anatomy… [but] there is no scientific consensus regarding the ethics or effectiveness of attempts to align one’s biology with one’s self-perception through experimental and exploratory medicine.
“The Kansas Republican Party affirms God’s design for gender as determined by biological sex and not by self-perception; that we oppose efforts to surgically or hormonally alter one’s bodily identity to conform with one’s perceived gender identity.
“We oppose all efforts to validate transgender identity, we recognize the fundamental right of parents to guide their child’s education, that public schools should not undermine the values of parents who do not agree with transgenderism, and that students have a reasonable expectation of privacy and safety at school.”
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