Kansas rejects bill to make anti-gay discrimination legal

Kansas has rejected a bill which would have made LGBT discrimination legal for adoption agencies.

Gay and lesbian couples could have been turned away by adoption and foster care groups under the law, as long as their decisions were based on religious beliefs.

Same-sex couples are legally allowed to adopt in all 50 US states, but attempts are increasingly being made to strip them of that right because of the so-called religious freedom to discriminate.

(Getty)

In Georgia, the Senate and House have both passed a Republican bill which would make it possible to stop same-sex adoption.

And in Kansas, Republicans made a similar effort.

They even found some success, with the Senate voting the bill through by a margin of 28 to 12, after intensely debating whether or not the legislation was homophobic.

(Getty)

But just a few hours, the House of Representatives – which is also dominated by Republicans – blocked the bill, voting it down by 64 to 58.

The issue will now be kicked to a conference committee, where lawmakers across the state Congress will negotiate a final version of the bill.

Senator Barbara Bollier, a Republican, described the bill as “sick discrimination.

(Getty)

“And these are people who can love and adopt children and are doing so. So to say it is not discriminatory, I beg to differ,” she told The Wichita Eagle.

Democratic Senator Lynn Rogers said discrimination was already present, albeit informally.

• Nov 29

56 celebrities you didn’t know are gay, bisexual or lesbian