GLAAD is calling on Oklahoma lawmakers to reject SB 1140, which targets LGBTQ families and youth

NEW YORK – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, released the following statement after lawmakers in the Oklahoma House Judiciary Committee advanced Senate Bill 1140. This anti-LGBTQ bill would allow adoption and foster care agencies to cite religion as a reason to discriminate and turn away qualified LGBTQ couples and refuse to work with LGBTQ youth in need of a home.

“This bill is heartless and un-American. No qualified parent should be turned away from adoption or foster agencies simply because they are LGBTQ,” said Zeke Stokes, Vice President of Programs of GLAAD. “The Oklahoma House must reject this attempt to write anti-LGBTQ discrimination into law at the expense of the state’s youth in need of loving and supportive homes.”

This bill is part of a disturbing trend of discriminatory legislation attacking LGBTQ families across the county. If SB 1140 passes, Oklahoma would become the eighth state to pass legislation targeting LGBTQ adoptive and foster families alongside Alabama, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, Mississippi, Michigan, and Texas.

For more information on accurately covering religious exemption legislation, such as SB 1140, please refer to GLAAD’s tip sheet: How to cover “religious exemptions” court cases, federal guidance, and legislation.
 

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