On Thursday, the Florida House passed Sanford Republican Jason Brodeur’s controversial Ā “conscience protection” bill. TheĀ legislationĀ would allow private adoption agencies whose “written religious or moral convictions” do not permit children in their care to be adopted by gays or lesbians to refuse to make such placements. The agencies would not face the possibility of losing their licenses or state funding.
In the lead-up to the vote, Brandon Republican Ross Spano and Ocala Rep. Dennis Baxley spoke passionately in support of the bill, while Democrats like St. Petersburg’s Daryl Rouson calledĀ itĀ “an atrocity.”
Perhaps no one was moreĀ poignant than Miami Beach Democrat David Richardson, whose successful amendment to strip the ban on same-sex adoptions from stateĀ statute essentially restarted the controversy over the issue. Ever since the courts ruled that the ban on same-sex adoption was unconstitutional in 2010, it has never been challenged in Florida and gay couples have been able to legally adopt. Richardson’s amendment was simply to remove the repeal language from state law, but it sparked a furious pushback from social conservatives, ultimately leading to Brodeur’s bill.
āI was a young man when that provision was put into law 38 years ago,ā Richardson recalled on Thursday. āI remember feeling alone, and I remember feeling how the world must hate me ā¦ I thought this was going to be a difficult life.ā
āThis fight is over,ā he continued. āIf we continue to fight, it will only hurt our great state.ā
But Brodeur said then and repeatsĀ today in an opinion piece that there has been too much discussion about how adults feel about his bill, and not enough about the children who will be helped byĀ it.
“Today in Florida, over 600 children woke up without a permanent home to call their own,” Brodeur writes in an op-ed provided to Florida Politics on Friday. “Sadly, these vulnerable children are revolving through a broken foster system which leaves far too many without hope for a happy life or successful future. Without the endless love of my adoptive parents, I could have been among their ranks. No priority is more personal to me than giving every vulnerable child in Florida a forever home.”
The larger adoption bill would offerĀ $10,000 payments to state employees who adopt special-needs children from the foster-care system and $5,000 payments to state employees who adopt other foster children.
The Senate on Wednesday passedĀ its version of the adoption bill, but rejected amendments placed by Lakeland Republican Kelli Stargell that would have included the “conscience protection” amendment.
Below is Brodeur’s op-ed in full:
“Today in Florida, over 600 children woke up without a permanent home to call their own. Sadly, these vulnerable children are revolving through a broken foster system which leaves far too many without hope for a happy life or successful future. Without the endless love of my adoptive parents, I could have been among their ranks. No priority is more personal to me than giving every vulnerable child in Florida a forever home.
Thatās why I authored legislation to make Florida the best state for adoptionsāparticularly adoptions benefiting foster children. State employees who adopt will receive incentives. Adoption costs and āred tapeā have been slashed. Funding for adoption centers has been prioritized. The antiquated, inactive and (according to trial and appellate courts) unconstitutional ban on gay adoptions was repealed.
Conversations with my closest friends in the faith community were uncomfortable, occasionally even hostile, over the repeal of this ban. I listened to their concerns and explained how this legislation helped children in need.
But I also recognize that we do no service to these vulnerable children when we remove armies of compassion from the battlefield. We need everyone working together to place children in forever homes. Thatās why I also authored religious freedom legislation allowing private adoption organizations to honor their values while matching otherwise unwanted children with loving families.
A new group of critics were ignitedāthis time on the left. There is a sad irony. In the same breath this group calls for adoptions to be more inviting for gay couples, they want to make the facilitation of adoptions less comfortable for faith-based organizations. Why not welcome anyone who wants to help our most vulnerable children with open arms?
When it comes to helping children, letās check our rigid ideologies at the doorāall of them. Letās call a temporary ātruceā to care for kids who just want a family. I am proudly a conservative Republican, but I wear no jersey when comes to building a more streamlined, inclusive adoption process for all who can provide care and love.
I thank God every day that Rene and Tim Brodeur decided to bestow more love upon me than I will ever deserve. Love is the fertilizer for strength. Strength is the foundation for meaningful discussion and debate. But today, 600 children donāt care about an ideological debate or political attacks. They just want homesā¦and love. As an adopted child, I beg youāletās help them together.”
Despite all the controversy,Ā Brodeur’s billĀ Ā is far from becoming law. It’s not going to be a part of the Senate’s bill on adoption, as perĀ its rejection of the Stargel amendments earlier this week.
LGBT activists are not applauding Brodeur’s piece.
“Representative Jason Brodeur’s oped is offensive to caring Floridians and more especially to the 600 children who languish in Florida’s failure to address the needs of all of Florida’s children, especially the Sunshine State’s most vulnerable,” responds South Florida activist MichaelĀ Rajner in an email. “In Brodeur’s call for a truce, he seemingly paints loving qualified families as unfit homes for children needing forever homes. He brings attention to the hostility from special interest groups who are attempting to manipulate the legislative process to advance their culture war and ignore Florida’s diverse multi-cultural communities of compassionate people to provide forever homes to nurture, protect and love the 6,000 children languishing in the state’s neglect.”
“Jason Brodeur believes the prejudice of adults should matter more than the needs and safety of children who long for the permanency only adoption can provide,” saysĀ Nadine Smith, executive director with Equality Florida. “A bill intended to permit taxpayer funded, government sanctioned discrimination that shrinks the pool of potential adoptive parents is immoral and cruel. Thankfully the Senate had the good sense to stop this bad bill from becoming law. We will do all we can to ensure that Florida law continues to put children ahead of prejudice as our state has since 2008 when the courts struct down the anti-gay adoption ban.”
Critics sayĀ that the “conscience protection”Ā bill is unconstitutional, since it essentially sanctions discrimination against same-sex couples.
On Friday the Florida Democratic Party began soliciting signatures on a petition calling for federal non-discrimination laws. In that email, they quote Rep. Brodeur’s comment that “Homosexuals are not a protected class.”
“The Florida GOP is determined to legalize discrimination and bigotry,” the email says. “We cannot stand for this. Add your name and call for federal non-discrimination laws.”
Same-sex adoptions have been the law of the land since 2010, with relatively little objection from social conservatives, who, to paraphrase Rep. Baxley, had figuratively thrown in the towel in keeping up that fight.
But that fight is back now, at least in the Florida House. But not in the Senate, which led Richardson to say on Thursday that the House Republicans’ argument on the issue isn’t with Democrats or the LGBT community, but with themselves.
