Va. Gov. McDonnell to Block Proposed Gay Adoption Regulation Changes

In November, 2009, former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine proposed changes to the commonwealth's adoption laws that would allow same-sex couples to adopt. The short-sighted Kaine's proposed changes would have applied to faith-based adoption services as well as state agencies. As any Virginian with an active brain stem knows, that's a deal killer.

On Tuesday Governor Bob McDonnell said in a news conference that he is in favor of keeping Virginia's adoption regulations the way they are -- unjust, outdated and discriminatory. The Washington Post reports:

“I know I had said during the campaign that I would essentially keep our adoption laws -- which I think are good -- the way they are now,’’ McDonnell said. “I think the current regulations that are in place seem to be working well.”

Currently, only married couples and single men and women — regardless of sexual orientation — can adopt in Virginia.

The proposal, according to the governor’s office, would mandate that gay singles and unmarried couples be able to access faith-based groups, such as Catholic Charities and Jewish Family Services, to adopt children.

“I don’t think we ought to force Catholic Charities to make that part of their policy or other similar situated groups,’’ McDonnell said. “Many of our adoption agencies are faith-based groups that ought to be able to establish what their own policies are. Current regulations that say you can’t discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin I think are proper. I think previous efforts to expand that to a number of other classes are going to have very strict scrutiny to make sure that we don’t inhibit the very fine work some faith-based organizations are doing.”

Former governor Tim Kaine, who announced Tuesday that he is running for U.S. Senate in 2012, proposed the change to the regulations in November 2009, less than two months before he left the office to become the full-time chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

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• VA Gov. Bob McDonnell Won't Let Some Democrat Force Him To Let Gays Adopt Kids (queerty.com)
• VA Gov. Bob McDonnell: I Don't Want Gay Couples Adopting Children (towleroad.com)
• Tim Kaine to Run for Va. Senate Seat (blogs.wsj.com)