| Action | Adopt new standards for licensed private child-placing agencies. |
| Stage | Proposed |
| Comment Period | Ended on 4/1/2011 |
 |
I am specifically concerned with the following proposed language regarding proposed regulation 22 VAC 40-131-170(B):
B. The licensee shall prohibit acts of discrimination based on race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, political beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, or family status to:
1. Delay or deny a child’s placement; or
2. Deny an individual the opportunity to apply to become a foster or adoptive parent.
Listing “sexual orientation” and “family status” as protected classifications could force faith-based adoption service providers to act contrary to their religious beliefs and drive them out of providing adoption services.
Also, a protected classification of “sexual orientation” has no support in federal law or in any enactment of the General Assembly. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s March 4, 2010, letter to state universities and colleges notes that since 1997, “the General Assembly has on more than 25 occasions considered and rejected bills adding ‘sexual orientation’ to various nondiscrimination statues.”
Please do not force your unconstitutional effort and minority view “that anything other than a marriage between a man and a woman” is a marriage or those purporting to be qualify as adoptive parents. It is not and they do not.