Good morning, Madam Chairman and other members of the committee.  My name is Robert Uebel, and I live in Fargo.  I am speaking today as co-chair of Equality North Dakota, the statewide advocacy organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender North Dakotans.  Equality North Dakota strongly opposes Senate Bill 2188 because it essentially provides for state-sanctioned discrimination in the area of child placement.

Senate Bill 2188 gives state-licensed agencies a blank check to discriminate against adoption applicants of certain religious faiths or anyone else the agency disapproves of because of its moral or religious beliefs.  Thus, any qualified parents could face exclusion.  For example, some agencies might believe that children should only be placed with Christians.  Some might believe that the Bible mandates that only families with stay-at-home mothers are suitable for raising children.  Some agencies might object to placing children with parents of a different race than the child.  Yet Senate Bill 2188 would permit these and an extremely broad range of other exclusions. 

North Dakota cannot afford to have qualified, good parents turned away from adopting because they do not share an agency’s religious or moral beliefs.  According to figures from the federal government, almost four hundred parentless children are waiting to be adopted in the state.  Over 80% wait for more than a year, and more than half wait more than two years waiting for stable, permanent homes.  Allowing agencies to disqualify an applicant because of religious or moral views will have the most immoral of effects – it will leave children waiting even longer for parents to adopt them.  For some it may mean never being adopted.

Proponents of this bill have claimed that this legislation is necessary to protect the religious rights of sectarian agencies and that the bill isn’t intended to discriminate against any group or individual.  In fact, our testimony before the Senate Human Services Committee was used as a reason why such legislation is necessary.  We were even told by one Senator that we should open our own adoption agency if we didn’t like the proposed legislation.

We take strong exception to all of the above arguments.  Throughout our nation’s history discrimination against numerous groups and denial of equal rights have been justified by “moral or religious beliefs.”  Those same “moral or religious beliefs” have been used to oppose most, if not all, major advances in the areas of civil and human rights.  With specific regard to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, we hear with increasing frequency the argument that laws which protect our rights somehow discriminate against those who have “moral or religious” objections to our sexual and affectional orientation.

Adoption by gay and lesbian couples in North Dakota is already extremely difficult and practically non-existent.  Sectarian child-placement agencies do not facilitate adoptions by gay and lesbian couples.  In the case of a gay male couple from Bismarck who tried to adopt a little boy through a non-sectarian agency, officials of the state Department of Human Services intervened in their adoption proceedings in an attempt to block the adoption.  Fortunately, they were able to work around these officials, and the adoption eventually went through.

Senate Bill 2188 allows child-placing agencies to discriminate with impunity and with the approval of the state.  North Dakota needs less discrimination, not more.  At a time when many in our state are looking for ways to make our state a more welcoming and inviting place, this bill sends the message that individuals who are perceived as different are not full and equal members of the North Dakota family.  Worst of all, it sends the message that the right to discriminate is more important than the right to full equality under the law.  I urge members of the committee to give this bill a “do not pass” recommendation.  Thank you.