The following email is from ALCAP’s legal advisor and director of the Southeast Law Institute, Eric Johnston…
Begin forwarded message:
Friends,
This is a request for immediate action. HB24, Child Placing Agency Inclusion Act, has passed both the House and Senate with a wide majority. It has gone to Governor Ivey for signature. However, she intends to add an unnecessary and superfluous amendment. This may cause later interpretation problems with the law, or it may slow down the process enough (it must go back to the House and Senate for concurrence) that the Session will end and the bill will die.
This bill protects church and religious operated state licensed adoption agencies from being required to make same sex adoption placements in violation of their religious beliefs based on scriptural marriage. With the 2015 Obergefell SCOTUS opinion legalizing same sex marriage, regulations are expected requiring same sex marriage placements. Already in Massachusetts, Illinois, Washington, DC and San Francisco, Christian adoption agencies have closed.
Adoption is an important alternative to abortion. We cannot afford to close down 30% of Alabama adoptions done by the affected agencies.
We have been opposed throughout the legislative process by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a heavily financed LGBTQ lobbying organization, abortion interests and others. Now, we are told that Google, AT&T and Apple are pressuring Governor Ivey to add the amendment.
This issue is about more that protecting innocent life, it is about the very essence of religious freedom. In committee, Christians were said to be intolerant and discriminatory. Our religious beliefs must be secondary to the rights of homosexuals.
This is our first confrontation in Alabama with the gay rights agenda. If we do not stand firm now, we will face increased opposition. Those organizations that oppose us because of what we believe, will coalesce and we will find we have little or no voice in protecting our values. Large corporations, gay rights advocates, abortion interests, gambling interests, and you name it, will be telling us how to live. Our sincerely held religious beliefs dictate against what they want.
We must contact Governor Ivey and tell her to protect the freedom of religion in Alabama, her churches and their members. She must sign the bill as it is. She must not add an executive amendment. She must do it now without delay.
Contact the Governor’s office:
Call: 1-334-242-7100
Email by going to: governor.Alabama.gov/contact
I urge you to circulate this email, contact your constituents, churches, other organizations and others requesting that beginning early Monday morning and continuing throughout the week , they contact Governor Ivey with this message. Time is of the essence. Thank you.