This is my first KOS diary. A good friend of mine, blogger Maura Keaney, has done progressives in the Commonwealth of Virginia a great service by unearthing numerous pieces of legislation introduced in the current Virginia House and Senate sessions that call for our immediate action. This entry highlilghts one of particular concern to me as an adoptive parent.
In another example of the extraordinary extremist actions of some of the majority members of our Commonwealth's legislative bodies, last minute legislation has been introduced in the Virginia House to make adoption by gays and lesbians illegal in Virginia. The text of the bill can be found by following this link:
HB 2921 Prohibits adoptions by homosexuals.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+sum+HB2921
This not only applies to adoption applications by couples made jointly, but also by adoptions of new partners of parents that wish to complete their family legally through adoption.
This should anger all of us, but it is particularly despicable to me as an adoptive parent. It is absolutely unacceptable to think that I would be able to adopt while other qualified loving adults would not -- for a totally arbitrary reason. This is outrageous and flies in the face of decency and common sense. This is a hateful crowd that would rather see children not receive permanent homes than place them with a loving parent that happens to be a gay or lesbian.
We need to unite in expressing our outrage over this legislation.
Hardworking sleuth Maura Keaney uncovered this shockingly evil bill in an email to her Virginia Legislative Action E-Group, DFVSentry:
yep, here it is. The hateful winner of the day, slipped in at the last minute,
thanks to Dick Black of Loudoun and Robert Marshall of Manassas, tag-teaming as
the Dynamic Duo of Discrimination:
HB 2921 Prohibits adoptions by homosexuals.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+sum+HB2921
Okay. Deep breath everyone.
What do we do now?
Following Maura's lead in her successful effort to drop another piece of vile legislation that would have made women who have miscarried forced to report the event to the police (HB1677), we can take the following actions, most of which are a brazen rip-off from one of Maura's Daily KOS diaries:
- If you are an adoptive parent, an adopted child or a prospective adoptive parent and wish to contribute a personal story that you feel can resonate with people and demonstrate the ugliness of this bill, please write to me privately at idej@cox.net or openly to this group. The personal touch is the way to reach people. We can use your story with an alias if you wish to remain anonymous.
- If you live in Virginia, join me in asking Robert Marshall and Dick Black how bill HB 2921 will benefit the people of the Commonwealth. Be polite in all of your communications.
- If you live in Virginia, write to your Delegate and State Senator to express your views on this bill and demand that they oppose it. Please be polite in expressing your views.
- Contact the Democratic candidates for Lieutenant Governor in Virginia and let them know that you will expect them to oppose this bill and will consider this in your voting decision in the primary.
- If you participate in any adoption communities, please spread the word about this bill.
- If you live in Virginia and want to keep watch over bills in this legislative session, please join the Democracy for Virginia Legislative Sentry email list. This listserv was created to serve as a tool for collecting and disseminating information on bills for the upcoming Virginia legislative session. HB2921 is only one of dozens of very dangerous bills, and progressive activists in Virginia must get the word out about this proposed legislation among allied grassroots groups, organizations, and like-minded citizens. If you want to keep watch along with other volunteer "sentries", please sign up!
- Please take 10 minutes to email a letter to the editor of your local paper expressing your opinion of this bill.
I would like to hear from anyone who would like to join with me in active opposition at ***@****.
Julie ***
(Proud adoptive parent of my wonderful daughter ***)