By the Bayou: Texas Foster Children

By the Bayou: Texas Foster Children

Here's an e-mail one rep sent to her constituents -
at least the whole Tx lege isn't hateful morons...

Last night, the Business and Industry Committee had a hearing on my bill, House Bill 143. This bill will prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. We had witnesses who testified on their experiences of being fired from jobs based on their sexual orientation. I will continuing working on this very important legislation.

Despite the good news of having a hearing for HB 143, there was a huge setback last night for children. As you may have heard by now, the House passed a bill last night which would ban gay and lesbian parents from being foster parents. Senate Bill 6 relates to restructuring our Child Protective Services and foster care programs. There were many good components in this bill. However, an amendment was offered to ban gay and lesbian invididuals from serving as foster parents. Unfortunately, the amendment was placed in the bill. I voted against the amendment and the bill.

The effect of the amendment will be to remove children who are already placed in foster homes with gay or lesbian parents. The amendment also requires that caseworkers ask specific questions regarding sexual orientation. Children will now come second while our caseworkers engage in something similar to a witch hunt to determine a prospective foster parent's sexual orientation.

When we walked on the house floor, we had a strategy already in place to defeat this amendment. The strategy was to focus on the cost of this amendment. We estimated that it would take $50 million to carry out these measures. During the debate on the floor, discussions deteriorated into debating the morality of sexual orientation. At that point, we knew chances of defeating the amendment were lost because of the lack of support for GLBT issues in the legislature.

I am very saddened and frustrated at the Legislature for allowing this amendment to get placed on this bill. Conservatives have the majority and we were outnumbered. I have visions of children being pulled from loving homes simply because the Legislature feels that intolerance should dictate public policy.

There is a chance to have this provision removed in conference committee. Many of us are working behind the scenes to have this happen. It is very important to spread the word about this issue. Write in to your newspaper. Have people you know contact their legislators.

Sorry for the bad news. Please get everyone you know to be active on this issue.