ANTI-GAY ADOPTION BILL DIED IN THE KENTUCKY SENATE

According to courier-journal.com, a publication that covers news from the Louisville, KY and Southern IN areas, a controversial bill intended to ban unmarried couples (i.e., gay couples) from becoming foster or adoptive parents died in the Kentucky senate.

Even though Senate Bill 68 was voted out of committee last week, it was never called to the floor for a vote. The bill's sponsor, Senator Gary Tapp, R-Shelbyville, acknowledged yesterday that the bill was dead.

Sen. Tapp said, "It's too late. It didn't go anywhere this session." He said he didn't know why the Senate's Republican leadership didn't schedule a vote.

Majority party leaders could not be reached for comment and seemed to be trying to distance themselves from the bill. Probably for a number of very good reasons. Aside from the fact that the latest nationwide poles show the republican party with the lowest approval rating (only 26) in recent memory, lezgetreal.com reported that:

Insiders at Kentucky’s State House are saying that Senator’s were flooded with calls and e-mail from angry citizens, most saying that they would think that a bill that takes away potential homes and adds costs to states taxpayers for the care of children in state custody “was just plain dumb”. Our sources are saying the states Republican leadership is now viewing SB 68 as divisive and pure political poison. They want nothing to do with it.

But even if the bill were to win Senate approval, it would still need to be passed by the overwhelmingly Democratic House. And there is little chance of that happening with only three scheduled days for passing bills remaining in this year’s session.

Chris Hartman, Director of Kentucky’s Fairness Campaign, one of the groups that opposed the bill, said…

We are encouraged the thousands of statements, letters, and phone calls from fair-minded Kentuckians opposing Senate Bill 68 (SB 68) has driven home the message that hate legislation should never be passed in the commonwealth. It is in the best interest of our children and our state’s economy that this bill not reappear in the future, though if it does, we will gather and build upon the countless allies that have come forward with Fairness to oppose this legislation, and we will mobilize them against it with even greater fervor.

I really do feel very, very hopeful that we are moving into one of the most exciting and most productive periods in the history of the GLBT rights movement.

That being said, and for ironically that very same reason, now IS NOT the time to relax and just wait for it to happen. The door is being opened wider than it's ever been opened before BUT WE HAVE TO STAND UP AND WALK THROUGH IT. None of these emerging possibilities will ever happen if we just sit and wait!

Keep fighting -- we CAN and we WILL WIN!