WASHINGTON — Dr. Janice Crouse of the anti-gay organization Concerned Women for America said that the “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” — which would prohibit federal funding for entities that discriminate against prospective adoptive or foster parents on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status — is “an experiment” that should not be taking place.
The bill, introduced Monday by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), would restrict federal funds for states if they have laws or practices allowing for discrimination against LGBT parents.
“Something around 65,000 adopted children and 14,000 foster children live in homes that are headed by non-heterosexuals, and yet the data very overwhelmingly says these homes are not as good for children,” Crouse noted, in an interview appearing in the American Family Association’s on-line news blog, OneNewsNow.
“They don’t even come close to being as good for children as a married couple — mom and dad — family.”
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Crouse said the “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” is not so much about the children as it is about advancing the homosexual agenda.
“That agenda is being advanced at the expense of our children and at the expense of the future of our country,” Crouse said. “When you have children who are being used as guinea pigs like this, it’s totally unwarranted.”
Gillibrand’s office told LGBTQ Nation on Wednesday that the legislation employs the monetary powers of the federal $8 billion child welfare purse to target discriminatory laws against LGBT couples and individuals in more than 30 states, which often eliminates the potential possibilities for children in foster care and wards of those states to otherwise find homes.
An estimated 400,000 children are in the U.S. foster care system, with over 100,000 waiting to be adopted.
Gillibrand has publicly stated, “I think we can develop support in places where someone may not support full marriage equality or may not support other rights. They may care at least about our youth and making sure that healthy families are available to take care of them.”
Allison Howard, Director Of Communications for Concerned Women, told LGBTQ Nation that Dr. Crouse was unavailable for comment when asked specifically about the portion of the quote, […]”the data very overwhelmingly says these homes are not as good for children.”
Howard said that Crouse utilized data which is publicly available as published on the Concerned Women for America organization’s website.
Concerned Women for America opposes legal recognition of LGBT rights as civil rights., opposes same-sex marriage, asserts that homosexuality is against God’s wishes, and has described homosexual behavior as “disordered,” “unnatural,” and “immoral.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center has described Concerned Women for America as one of a “dozen major groups [that] help drive the religious right’s anti-gay crusade.”
