Critics Bash Snyder for Signing Religious Objection Adoption Bills

» Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

This story has been updated:

Fallout was swift Thursday after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed a three-bill package that allows faith-based adoption agencies to turn away gay and unmarried couples on religious grounds.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and Progress Michigan decried the legislation, passed by the Senate without notice Wednesday and approved Thursday by the House. The ACLU said it would sue to stop implementation of the legislation, and Progress Michigan said the bills amount to state-sanctioned discrimination at taxpayers’ expense.

The Detroit Free Press, one of the state’s major daily newspapers, took a strong stand against the governor in an editorial Thursday afternoon, calling the legislation “a craven attempt to cloak discrimination in faith, and it leaves the best interests of the 13,000 children in the state’s care – entirely out of the equation.”

“Even worse, it sends Michigan in the exact wrong direction just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court could invalidate all legislative or constitutional provisions that permit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” the newspaper opined. “Should that happen, this statute, along with bigoted laws in states around the country, would fall like their predecessors – Jim Crow-era laws and regulations – after landmark rulings in the 1960s.”

The governor’s signature on the bill comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule on gay marriage cases in four states, including Michigan, potentially settling for all 50 states one of the most contentious civil rights issues of modern times.

Related:

• Religious Objection Adoption Bills Pass Senate
• As High Court Considers Same-Sex Marriage Bans, Michigan Takes Up Religious Freedom
• Business Owner Gets Death Threats After Saying Gays Are Immoral
• Faith-Based Adoption Agencies Could Refuse Gay Couples Under Michigan Bills
• Question to Michigan Lawmakers Backing Religious Freedom: Did You See What Happened in Indiana?
• Religious Freedom Bills Back Before Michigan Legislature
• Snyder Vows to Veto Religious Freedom Legislation
• Critics: Religious Freedom Restoration Act Legalizes LGBT Discrimination
• U.S. Supreme Court Will Decide Gay Marriage for All 50 States

The bills were passed Wednesday by the Michigan Senate, which attached an amendment requiring faith-based agencies to provide referrals to other adoption agencies to couples they turn away. The House, which had earlier passed the same bill package, approved the bills without approving any of the eight amendments Democrats tried to attach to soften its effect, the Detroit Free Press said.

The Michigan Catholic Conference lauded the governor for signing the bills, saying “it is critically important to solidify the state’s long-standing partnership with faith-based child placement agencies operating collectively in the best interest of the state’s most vulnerable children.”

Supporters say faith-based adoption agencies shouldn’t be forced to compromise their religious principles for fear of loss of state funding or legal retaliation. Of the $19.9 million in fiscal year 2014-15 state and federal funding to support adoption agencies and foster care service, nearly $10 million of it went to faith-based agencies.

But not all faith-based organizations in Michigan are cheering the governor for signing the law. A coalition of 38 Michigan rabbis, who last month sent a letter to Snyder calling on him to denounce and veto the legislation, renewed their objections Thursday, according to an email to Patch.

“These appalling pieces of legislation would effectively create a license to discriminate for adoption or foster care providers, even when contracting with the state and taking taxpayer dollars to serve children in need,” the rabbis wrote, adding that the bills are so broad in nature that there is great potential for unintended consequences.

“... Not only could potential parents be turned away because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression – which would be bad enough on its own – but interracial or interfaith parents could be turned away as well despite being otherwise qualified,” the warned.

Snyder signed the legislation without fanfare, offering a written statement explaining his support.

“The state has made significant progress in finding more forever homes for Michigan kids in recent years and that wouldn’t be possible without the public-private partnerships that facilitate the adoption process,” Snyder said in the statement. “We are focused on ensuring that as many children are adopted to as many loving families as possible regardless of their makeup.”

But Progress Michigan, a progressive policy group, said the legislation puts those children at risk.

“Gov. Snyder has a history of siding with extreme corporate donors, but sacrificing the health and well-being of children is a new low – even for him,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Children deserve loving homes and our elected officials should be held accountable for supporting this blatant act of discrimination.”