Seneca, a Roman Senator, said, “the fates lead you to your destiny, or they drag you to it.” When it comes to civil rights, must Virginia always be dragged to do what’s right?
We have two intolerant, backward-looking, gay-averse elected officials in Richmond, Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cucinelli, who devote too much of their so-called public service, vitriol and taxpayer funds on compromising the rights and liberties of gay couples and preventing them from adopting any of the 5,700 children now in foster homes including the 1,300 eligible right now.
In Virginia, a single person, without regard to sexual orientation, may adopt a child so it doesn’t matter that Virginia doesn’t recognize gay marriage. The standard is what’s in the “best interest” of the child. There are 3,350 same-sex couples in Virginia raising more than 6,000 children. The Governor and the State’s chief lawyer, who say they are pro-family, apparently think that these 6,000 children would be better off in foster homes.
The Governor and AG have insisted on regulations for the State’s Social Services Board that authorize discrimination against any adopting gay. AG Cucinelli told the Board that it was prevented from preventing discrimination.
This civil liberties’ violation parallels a bill introduced in the General Assembly in 2005 that required social workers to determine the sexual orientation of a prospective adoptive parent so that they could prevent gay persons from adopting.
Our House of Delegates thought that was a great idea by a margin of 71-24, telling you something about their brotherly love; fortunately, our enlightened State Senate buried that wrong-headed bill.
In 2005, former State Senator Russ Potts (R-Winchester), running as an Independent for Governor, surprised Republican nominee Jerry W. Kilgore when he said he saw no reason why gay couples shouldn’t adopt children.
Potts reportedly said, “We’re all God’s children” and no gays “ought to be precluded from adopting a child.” He knew gay parents that were “very loving, caring” and “at every one of the Little League baseball games and the parent-teacher events.” Potts said he couldn’t “imagine that a gay person gets to the pearly gates of heaven and this loving, benevolent God is going to deny that person a place in his kingdom because he or she is gay.”
Messrs. McDonnell and Cucinelli enjoy a more caustic reading of the almighty’s will in their unholy crusade against gay families. They don’t appreciate what Paul told the Thessalonians that “those who despiseth, despiseth not man, but despiseth God.” I take comfort from Job, where it’s written in the Old Testament, that “the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.”
A citizen coalition has demanded that the Virginia State Board of Social Services reconsider a policy that permits discrimination against adoption based on sexual orientation as they believe we are all bound to love our neighbor as ourselves. This basic precept from the Sermon on the Mount has been excised from the editions of the bible that our “leaders” consult.
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