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Florida Family Planning Council

Rick Scott signs bill that repeals gay-adoption ban in Florida

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It took him awhile, but Florida Gov. Rick Scott today signed HB 7013, an adoption bill that offers financial incentives for qualifying employees of state agencies who adopt a child from the child welfare system. The measure would provide $5,000 payments to government workers who adopt foster children, with the payments increasing to $10,000 for adopting children with special needs. It also awards incentive payments to community-based care lead agencies (CBCs) and their subcontractors for achieving specified adoption performance standards. But what will…

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House committee passes bill to allow private adoption agencies to deny gay adoption

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The Florida House Judiciary Committee today passed a controversial “conscience protection” bill (HB 7111) that would allow private adoption agencies to refuse child placements with gay couples. Conscience protection legislation grants a person or an entity the ability to refuse to perform an otherwise required duty, because the individual or entity violates their religious or moral conviction, explained the bill’s sponsor, Sanford Republican Jason Brodeur. Brodeur maintained that the bill was not proposed (in the middle of the legislative session)…

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ACLU attorney says House bill to prevent gay adoptions in Florida is unconstitutional

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Last week the House Health & Human Services Committee approved a proposal that would allow private adoption agencies to object to “performing, assisting in, recommending, consenting to, or participating in the placement of a child if a placement violates the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.” The measure, sponsored by Sanford Republican Jason Brodeur, would also essentially endorse discrimination, allowing any agency that denies placing a child in a home with a same-sex couple from losing its license…

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John Stemberger attempts to explain the law on gay adoption to Florida lawmakers

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Last week, the Florida House struck down the state’s 38-year ban on same-sex adoptions. The Christian Right in Tallahassee has vowed ever since to make sure that such a bill never makes it to Rick Scott‘s desk. On Thursday the House Health & Human Services Committee passed a proposed bill that would allow private child-placing agencies to refuse an adoption if the placement violates their religious or moral convictions. Florida Politics Christine Jordan-Sexton reported that Committee Chairman Jason Brodeur said the bill was…

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Equality Florida rallying members to oppose Frank Artiles’ transgender bill

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Miami Republican Frank Artiles’ controversial bill that would criminalize bathroom use for transgender people moves to its second committee in the House tomorrow, and LGBT activists are in Tallahassee right now trying to lobby legislators to vote against it. HB 583 goes before the Government Operations Subcommittee on Tuesday. The legislation would make it illegal for the transgendered to enter sex segregated facilities such as bathrooms, locker rooms, or dressing rooms. Critics say the bill would also compel businesses to discriminate against their own employees…

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