Prospective foster care or adoptive parents who are LGBT are as able to serve the best interests of a child as are any other parents.  There is no justification for discrimination against LGBT parents, and no state-licensed child placement agency should be allowed to do so (nor should such an agency be allowed to discriminate against children or prospective parents based on race, national origin, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, political beliefs, disability or family status).  The State Board of Social Services should restore the protections against such discrimination to the final rules it is preparing to issue - anything else would put political ends before the best interests of the children whose futures the Board of Social Services is designed to protect.  Such a choice would be a despicable betrayal of children who deserve parents who will love and care for them.  I strongly encourage the State Board of Social Services to serve the best interests of these children by restoring the anti-discrimination provisions to its final rules.