Jewish Community Relations Council of Louisville has spoken out against Senate Bill 68.

We’re printing the following letters, with permission:

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Louisville (CRC) sent a letter this past week to members of the Kentucky Legislature in opposition to Senate Bill, 68, the bill that places unreasonable restrictions on who may become adoptive or foster parents.

In its letter to the members of the legislature, the CRC Chairperson, Helene Kramer Longton wrote, “(t)he Jewish Community CRC opposes measures that discriminate against unmarried heterosexuals and against otherwise qualified parents based on sexual orientation. We have reviewed the language of SB 68. It is discriminatory on its face and does not serve the best interest of the commonwealth or children in need. Accordingly we ask for its defeat.” The CRC recognizes that passage of this bill comes at great social cost to the children who need adoptive or foster parents as well as to the adults who desire to provide homes for children in need. The bill will also financially burden the Commonwealth.

The bill is an approach that has been adopted in an extremely small number of states. The breadth of Kentucky’s bill is staggering, limiting the potential of foster and adoptive parenting of gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples, living together in as sexual relationship, but are not in a traditional marriage. How the state will police sexual activity is a big mystery. The practicalities and inconsistencies of enforcement of such a bill presents a myriad of unanswerable questions.

Read the rest after the jump…

In Florida a 30 year old state law banning gay and lesbian adoption has been recently rejected in state court in a case called In Re Gill. The Supreme Court in Florida will soon review the case. Almost 1400 pages of trial testimony were taken in the Florida case. The trial court that heard the case held that the Florida statute violated the gay couple’s “and the Children’s equal protection rights guaranteed by Article I, § 2 of the Florida Constitution without satisfying a rational basis. Moreover, the statutory exclusion defeats a child’s right to permanency as provided by federal and state law pursuant to the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.” Indeed, the court found no rationally related public morality interest in the ban on gay and lesbian adoption.

Likewise it is a principle tenet of Judaism that the fundamental rights of individuals should be respected. Judaism does not teach us that gay lesbian or unmarried heterosexuals living together could not qualify as foster parents or adoptive parents. Rather, it is taught, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a). This statute is a violation of that Talmudic principle. There is another Talmudic principle involved for the Jewish community. According to Rabbi Joel Roth, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, the academic center of Conservative Judaism, “It’s a mitzvah (commandment) to care for an orphan.” Denying a qualified person the right to serve God is not a concept this Commonwealth should endorse.

Like many states, Kentucky faces a shortage of qualified foster and adoptive parents. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services is under a mandate to find prompt permanent and qualified placement in stable homes. To this end Kentucky has received a $2 million million federal grant to help find foster and adoptive families for the state’s foster children. The needs are great. According to the Cabinet, of the more than 7,100 children in state out-of-home care, almost 2,000 children have the goal of adoption. Almost 1,000 have had their parental rights terminated, which means they are available and awaiting adoption with no identified family, and 450 of those children do not have identified adoptive families.

The citizens of this Commonwealth should join together in supporting these children at risk and potential adoptive parents, not throwing obstacles in their way. While to be sure, there are religious and moral reasons why this insidious legislation should be opposed, there are practical reasons as well. Recently, The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimated that the cost to the Commonwealth of Kentucky would be over $5.3 million in the first year. There is also the cost of litigation against a potential unconstitutional statute. Why, when resources are precious, would responsible legislators propose such a divisive and costly measure?

Senate Bill 68 is a denial of human dignity. It is a denial of human dignity to those qualified heterosexual and gay and lesbian adults who seek to perform the mitzvah of becoming a foster parent or adoptive parent. It is a denial of the dignity of children who need compassionate and stable homes. Its passage would be a denial of the dignity of all of the citizens of the Commonwealth as its consequence is to diminish the merit of God’s children.

H. Philip Grossman
Former Chair,
On Behalf of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Louisville

Helene Kramer-Longton’s original letter that appeared in the Courier-Journal (printed by request) is below:

March 5, 2009

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Louisville (CRC) is the vehicle through which the Jewish community is represented in the greater community. The CRC provides a forum for discussion and coordinated action on public policy issues of concern to the Louisville Jewish community. Its members are made up of a broad representation of Jewish organizations throughout Louisville.

On behalf of the CRC, I am writing to express our opposition to Senate Bill 68. The Jewish Community CRC opposes measures that discriminate against unmarried heterosexuals and against otherwise qualified parents based on sexual orientation. We have reviewed the language of SB 68. It is discriminatory on its face and does not serve the best interest of the commonwealth or children in need. Accordingly, we ask for its defeat.

Passage of SB 68 will have many social costs. It is clear that its intent, in part, is to stigmatize gay and lesbian citizens – a goal that is unworthy of a just and moral society. It attempts to police the sexual practices of unmarried heterosexual couples. Just as pernicious, it will harm children in need. Studies show the bill will add cost to the Commonwealth’s obligation to find homes for children who will also be deprived of opportunities to find caring foster care, relative caregiver services or adoption.

We ask that you defeat this intolerant and detrimental measure.

Helene Kramer-Longton, Chair
Jewish Community Relations Council of Louisville