Tennessee: Bill proposes ban on adoptions by cohabiting couples

Legislation to ban cohabiting couples — whether opposite sex or same sex — from adopting a child has been introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly, a year after a proposal to prohibit homosexual couples from adopting failed last year.

“I think if you poll a majority of Tennesseans and ask them, they can see that two people who’ve not objectively, publicly stated a commitment to their relationship put a child at risk of being in an unstable home,” said David Fowler, executive director of the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee.

Senate Bill 0078, sponsored by Sen. Paul Stanley, R-Memphis, helps to prevent that, according to Mr. Fowler, a former Republican state senator from Signal Mountain. The bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, records show.

Repeated efforts to reach Sen. Stanley were unsuccessful. Calls to Senate Judiciary Committee head Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, and committee member Dewayne Bunch, R-Cleveland, were not immediately returned.

To those in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, the legislation is more about passing judgment than helping children.

“This isn’t about quality of care. This isn’t about the commitment of the parents. This is about a very narrow agenda,” said Dr. Marisa Richmond, president of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition.

Dr. Richmond cited the $6 million fiscal note attached to last year’s version of the proposed law, which she said was based on an estimated $20,000 cost for each of the roughly 300 children who would be kept in state custody and denied a home because of the restriction.

“We were hoping that, with the budget crisis, they wouldn’t reintroduce this bill,” she said.

A fiscal note has not been attached to this year’s version of the bill, records show. Legislators have said that in the current tight economic times, fiscal notes that reflect substantial costs likely will kill bills this year.

The state faces a budget shortfall of about $900 million.

Tennessee Department of Children’s Services spokesman Rob Johnson said state child welfare advocates don’t support the proposal.

“Generally, anything that makes it more difficult to move children out of state custody to permanent homes is something that’s tough for us to support,” he said.

Still, there may be a battle ahead, said Chris Sanders, chairman and president of the Tennessee Equality Project.

“The makeup of the Legislature is even more conservative this year, so we’re not taking anything for granted,” he said.

The Tennessee Equality Project hosted its fifth annual Advancing Equality Day at the Legislature last week, hoping to ensure that the views of the gay, lesbian and transgender community are heard this session. About 120 people participated, including a sizable delegation from the Chattanooga area, he said.

In addition to raising concerns about the adoption ban, group members said they oppose a bill that would ban the teaching of sexual diversity in schools. They also championed the addition of “gender identity or expression” to hate crimes sentencing enhancement and a law that would permit gender changes on birth certificates.

“Whether that ends up changing anyone’s mind, I don’t know,” Mr. Sanders said. “But if we don’t do this and they pass the bills, then we will not have done everything we could have to prevent this.”

Mr. Fowler said he hopes those efforts will be moot. Ultimately, he said, family values discussions are key to improving the economy.

“The economy is made up of people,” he said. “The more functional and healthy the people who make up the economy, the more functional and healthy the economy.”