A number of fine adoption agencies operating in Virginia understand marriage to be between one man and one woman and that this is optimally the best place for a child to develop and grow.  Certainly this is upheld by creeds or religious beliefs.  But it is also deeper and more encompassing.  It has to do with an anthropological outlook, how we understand what it means to be a man and a woman and what is the fundamental building block of society.  Those who hold these views, and agencies that enshrine them, also need to be respected.  Their work would be seriously impeded if the State were to interfere with their operating based on faith or conscience.  Not to mention that their are some (not all) who put their children up for adoption wanting them to be welcomed into a family as defined above.

I want to thank the State Board of Social Services for being cognizant of this Right and ask them to continue to uphold their position.