According to a Feb. 8 report by The Washington Post, the budget that the Trump administration intends to submit to congress will include broad authorization for agencies that handle foster care placements and adoption to discriminate against parents who are LGBT, non-Christian or part of some other minority. That policy would also allow those agencies to discriminate against LGBT and non-Christian foster youth.
In mid-March, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is set to appear at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee to explain the administration’s budget, and CenterLink — a coalition of LGBT community centers, including Dallas’ own Resource Center — is collecting stories from those who have been or could be harmed by such discrimination.
“Congressional Committee members are interested in receiving stories about why you oppose discrimination in foster care and adoption based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other aspects of your identity,” a CenterLink email notes. “Have you or someone you know faced discrimination in foster care and adoption, had a positive foster care and adoption experience as an LGBTQ person or worked for an organization that opposes foster care and adoption discrimination and experienced the harms of religious-based discrimination in foster care?”
If so, CenterLink asks that you share that story here so that they can pass those stories along to Congress members in an effort to stop Trump’s proposed discriminatory policies before they can take effect.
