Gov. Kay Ivey has signed a controversial bill into law that will allow faith-based adoption and foster agencies in Alabama to refuse services to same-sex couples if it goes against their religious convictions.
Ivey signed Rep. Rich Wingo's House Bill 24 Wednesday afternoon after "thoughtful consideration." The bill, which will now become law, will allow state-licensed child-placing agencies to refuse to place children in homes that would violate the agency's sincerely held religious beliefs.
"The elected legislature of this state overwhelmingly approved House Bill 24," Ivey said in a statement.
The Legislature gave final passage to the bill last week, sponsored by Wingo, a Republican from Tuscaloosa. The House passed the bill overwhelmingly last week and the Senate did a week before.
"There is no compelling reason to require a child placing agency to violate its sincerely held religious beliefs in providing any service, since alternative access to the services is equally available," the bill reads.
The bill, which has been proposed three years in a row, would prohibit the State from withholding a license from an adoption or foster agency that denied placement services to same-sex families, or other families, because of the agency’s religious beliefs.
"I ultimately signed House Hill 24 because it ensures hundreds of children can continue to find ‘forever homes’ through religiously-affiliated adoption agencies," Ivey said. "This bill is not about discrimination, but instead protects the ability of religious agencies to place vulnerable children in a permanent home."
Two previous iterations of the “Child Placing Agency Inclusion Act” failed to pass the Legislature.
Wingo and other supporters of the bill have said the bill is needed to protect faith-based adoption agencies. Opponents say the bill amounts to legalized discrimination, whether it is religious or not, by agencies that are licensed by the State.
Wingo has said LGBT couples can go to other secular placement agencies, including the Department of Human Resources and private non-religious agencies, if they're refused service by a faith-based child-placement agency.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT civil rights organization, has labeled the bill anti-LGBT.
“We are deeply disappointed that the legislature and the governor took on this unnecessary, discriminatory bill instead of focusing on how to improve the lives of all Alabamians, no matter who they are or whom they love,” said Eva Kendrick, HRC Alabama state director. “The intent of this law is clear: to discriminate, causing the most harm to children in Alabama’s child welfare system. It’s time our lawmakers -- from the legislature to the Governor’s Mansion — stop using LGBTQ people as pawns to win cheap political points.”
The bill will go into effect immediately.
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