May 14, 2018
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Children’s Rights condemns Oklahoma’s anti-LGBTQ bill SB 1140, which will allow state adoption and foster care agencies to reject LGBTQ couples and individuals on the basis of “religious freedom.”
Signed into law on Friday by Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, SB 1140 is the first anti-LGBTQ state bill signed in 2018.
“It is outrageous and devastating that Oklahoma’s children will suffer the consequences of this state-sanctioned discrimination,” said Sandy Santana, executive director for Children’s Rights. “Denying our most vulnerable children the loving homes they desperately need and deserve based on the gender identity or sexual orientation of prospective parents is unconscionable.”
Oklahoma is home to more than 100,000 LGBTQ adults according to the most recent census data, 34% of whom are raising children. And while Oklahoma has more than 16,000 children in foster care who need the love and stability these prospective LGBTQ families could offer, Gov. Fallin has given her seal of approval to this license to discriminate.
Children’s Rights voiced strong opposition to the anti-LGBTQ bill SB 375, which failed to pass in Georgia earlier this year. We will continue to work with our partners to oppose any legislative proposals that discriminate against prospective LGBTQ parents and create risk for LGBTQ youth in out-of-home care nationwide.