A long-awaited bill — HB 159 — that would update Georgia’s adoption and foster case system is finally headed for passage. However, adoptive families and advocates, including families like the Wurzs, are still worried that lawmakers could pass a stand-alone License to Discriminate that targets Georgia’s adoption and foster care system.

Read their open letter to lawmakers below, then email your lawmakers and urge them to stay away from anti-LGBT bills.

Our children are the very heart of our family, and we have been blessed to see them thrive and grow. The opportunity we have had to welcome our adopted children into our home is something we’ve never taken for granted.

Last year, a bill that would modernize Georgia’s adoption and foster care system was a high priority for our legislature. It failed in the last moments of the session when amendments were attached that would have allowed state-funded adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBT couples like us when deciding where to place a child.

That can’t happen again. Thousands of children just like ours are currently in Georgia’s adoption and foster care system, and for legislators to politicize their lives is unacceptable. No child should be denied the right to a loving and supportive home because a few lawmakers want to discriminate against families like ours.

Legislators have repeatedly said this bill is a top priority, and it’s clear lawmakers are serious about that, since this bill has been fast-tracked, and so far without anti-LGBT language. 

Please, pass a clean adoption bill as soon as possible, and stay away from bills that discriminate against families like ours.

We thank you, and our children thank you.

Sincerely,
Beth & Krista Wurz