(San Francisco, CA, June 10, 2015)—Today Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed three bills that will allow agencies that place children for adoption and foster care to ignore the best interests of children and instead use their own “religious or moral convictions or policies” as a basis for denying a child placement with a loving family. These deplorable laws will not only harm LGBTQ families, but also thousands of kids in desperate need of a loving, caring, forever home.

Statement from National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell:

“No one who truly cares about the welfare of at-risk children supports a law like this.  Making children pawns in this way is shameful, cynical and dangerous. Children need loving parents and secure homes which LGBTQ parents provide. Decisions about placement should be guided by only one consideration: the child’s best interest.”