• I am a voter living in Virginia.
• All children deserve a loving, forever family. Currently, there are more than 1,000 children waiting to be adopted in Virginia.
• Decisions about prospective parents should be based on the best interest of the child, not on discriminatory factors unrelated to good parenting.
• When agencies act in the stead of the state, they should be bound by principals of non-discrimination even if they are private agencies.

As a native Virginian and descendant of a first family in the Old Dominion, I am appalled that our state would allow discriminatory factors prohibit adoption of children by good and loving parents.

Specifically -- gender, age, religion, political beliefs, disability and sexual orientation should never be used as determinates of adoptive families.

As a graduate of Washington & Lee University, I value the verities of honor and doing what is right - irrespective of how unpopular it is to abide by these principles. I hope these principles will be followed by the  VSBSS - I hope that bigotry and prejudice will not determine who can/cannot adopt in our state.