Texas House passes ban on gay foster parents News
Texas House passes ban on gay foster parents

[JURIST] The Texas House of Representatives has passed legislation [text] which would bar homosexuals from becoming foster parents. The ban, part of the state's attempt to revamp its Child Protective Services Agency [official website], passed 135-6 Tuesday with two abstentions and now goes to the state Senate. According to the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian and Gay rights project [advocacy website], Texas would be the first state in the union to prohibit gays from becoming foster parents. Arkansas previously barred gays from becoming foster parents, but a judge ruled the ban to be unconstitutional [JURIST report] in December. Under the Texas ban, everyone who applies to be a foster parent or a foster parent must indicate their sexual preference whether homosexual or bisexual. If the question is answered in the affirmative, the person would be barred from serving as a foster parent. If a homosexual is already a foster parent, the child would be removed from the home. Read the Texas House press release. AP has more.

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