WAVY.com, February 17, 2012 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – With little debate, a Senate committee has endorsed a House-passed bill allowing private child placement agencies to deny adoptions for gays or others who offend their religious or moral teaching. The measure heads to the Senate floor after an 8-7 party-line vote Friday in the Republican-dominated Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee. The Senate has already approved a similar bill and...

February 10, 2012 New York Times By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The State Senate passed legislation on Thursday allowing private adoption agencies to deny placements that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs, including opposition to homosexuality. The mostly party-line vote virtually ensures the Republican-backed bill will become law. The House has an identical bill, and Gov. Robert F. McDonnell says he will sign it. Virginia would become the second...

Aaron Vaughn, Web Producer FOX 13 News 11:24 a.m. MST, January 25, 2012 SALT LAKE CITY— If passed, Sen. Ross Romero’s Adoption by a Co-parent Bill would allow gay couples, or any unmarried couple living together, to adopt. “Some people may not want to marry or some people may not be able to marry, so this could apply with equal force if they were sisters,” says Romero, giving a hypothetical example. “One sister moved in with...

By On Top Magazine Staff Published: January 22, 2012 Virginia lawmakers are set to consider opposing gay adoption bills, the AP reported. Democratic Senator Adam Ebbin is the sponsor of a bill that would bar the state from funding adoption agencies which discriminate against foster or adoptive parents based on sexual orientation or gender identity. “One major issue is whether charities that receive tax dollars should be able to discriminate,”...

New York Times December 13, 2011 By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD Since the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage, such couples are viewed as strangers in many spheres of their financial lives. They need to file separate federal tax returns, for instance. And sometimes, that can come with certain advantages. Take the adoption tax credit. If you adopt your spouse’s child, you cannot claim the credit. But since same-sex married couples are...

SDGLN.com, november 29, 2011 WASHINGTON – Bryan Samuels, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, will be joining the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), LGBT families and representatives from area child welfare agencies for an adoption forum on Wednesday, Nov. 30. The forum will recognize the close of National Adoption Month and call on child welfare professionals to include...

By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer Tue October 11, 2011 Washington (CNN) — A same-sex couple has been turned away at the Supreme Court in a cross-state dispute to have both of them officially listed as the parents of an adopted 5-year-old boy. The justices rejected the California couple’s appeal Tuesday without comment. The couple claims that Louisiana, where the child was born, has an unconstitutional policy against adoption by...

By SABRINA TAVERNISE – New York Times – August 25, 2011 REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — So much for San Francisco. The list of top cities for same-sex couples as a portion of the population does not include that traditional gay mecca, according to new census data. In fact, the city, which ranked third in 1990 and 11th in 2000, plummeted to No. 28 in 2010. And West Hollywood, once No. 1, has dropped out of the top five. The Census Bureau data,...

July 4, 2011 – New York Times - By LAURA M. HOLSON Laura Ashmore and Jennifer Williams are sisters. After that, their relationship becomes more complex. When Ms. Ashmore and her husband, Lee, learned a few years ago that they could not conceive a child, Ms. Williams stepped in and offered to become pregnant with a donor’s sperm on behalf of the couple, and give birth to the child. The baby, Mallory, was born in September 2007 and adopted...

June 13, 2011 – New York Times By SABRINA TAVERNISE Growing numbers of gay couples across the country are adopting, according to census data, despite an uneven legal landscape that can leave their children without the rights and protections extended to children of heterosexual parents. Same-sex couples are explicitly prohibited from adopting in only two states — Utah and Mississippi — but they face significant legal hurdles in about half...