Last night, Kansas Republicans took to the state house to pass into law a bill that would allow taxpayer funds to go to private adoption agencies that refuse LGBT couples. Speaking from the well, Steve Fitzgerald (R-Leavenworth) and a leading candidate for KS-02’s open US House seat, went into a long rant about why such legislation is necessary and drifted far from the bill — and began talking about the “Homosexual agenda”
www.kansas.com/…
A Kansas state senator and congressional candidate suggested Friday that a “homosexual agenda” exists during an early morning debate over adoption legislation.
Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, a Leavenworth Republican, spoke in support of a bill that would ensure faith-based adoption agencies can refuse placements to LGBT couples if doing so would run counter to the organizations' religious beliefs.
Fitzgerald’s histrionics almost didn’t come to pass — as the bill was fairly bottled up in the Kansas House until Moderate Republican Tom Cox (R-Shawnee) took to the floor and changed his vote, announcing, literally, that “a little discrimination is OK”.
Cox, a Shawnee-Lake Quivira Republican, was touted as a moderate in the 2016 election, but the decision to switch sides, against numerous members of the Johnson County business community, left a lot of moderate groups reeling:
Thomas Witt, executive director for Equality Kansas in a phone call this morning noted: “ Last night, the Kansas legislature voted to take taxpayer dollars from LGBT Kansans, and use it to discriminate against them.”
Greg Orman, independent candidate for Governor, had prior voiced his support for LGBT issues, but in the state house, his LG candidate voted in the Senate in favor of the legislation:
Steve Fitzgerald is running for US Congress, and could face Paul Davis in that US House race.
Tox Cox, a Shawnee Republican, will face Laura Smith Everett in the fall.