Please include more than just race, ethnicity, and national origin in the anti-discrimination clause of adoption regulation in our state. There are a lot of capable, loving adults in our state who would be proud to adopt, but are kept waiting without a family because they have been discriminated against by a person in power.

Gender should be added to the list. In the case of a single parent adoption, both men and women can be equally discriminated against because their gender does not fit the typical standard. Men are denied access to adoption because "MAN" is not the standard care-giver. My father was a stay at home dad and my mother went to work. The "STANDARD MAN" is an insult to progressive families. Equally important, women can be denied due to being single. A single woman does not necessarily lack the monetary and affectionate means to care for a home-less child.

Political/religious affiliation should be added to the list. The chance that a person could discriminate against someone because they are, for example, a republican or practice the beliefs of Hindu should not happen. There should be no chance that this could occur, but until the discrimination clause is changed, it may well could happen.

Ability status should be added to the list. Say a person is wheel-chair bound. Yes, it makes being a parent a lot harder on the person, but what if that person wants to adopt a child better suited to their mobility (ie: an older child)? Is it right to deny a person in a wheelchair the right to have a loving family just because they are in a wheelchair? The same goes for people with other disabilities. What if a person has autism and does not want to have his own child because of the high risk of giving autism to his child. Do you deny that person the love and companionship of a family?

Sexual orientation should be added to the list. Two parent households are typically better for children than single family households (although, depending on the time devotion to a child, the situation could change). Show me a study that claims that two parent households with specifically one man and one woman are more beneficial than a two parent household with two parents of the same sex. Those studies don't exist...and why is that??? Because the opposite studies exist: two parent households, regardless of the gender of the parents, are better than one parent households. Don't believe me, do the research yourself: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-01-21-parentgender21_ST_N.htm

Thank you for your time, and I hope you do help protect the rights of VA residents to create healthy families.

--Vicki Y