A Senate committee rejects House measure intended to discourage such adoptions
Richmond Times-Dispatch
February 17, 2005
By Tyler Whitley
The Senate Courts of Justice Committee defeated by voice vote yesterday a bill designed to discourage adoptions by homosexuals in Virginia.
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The unrecorded vote angered the chief sponsor, Del. Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, who afterward accused the committee members of “a lack of backbone.”
“People should have the moral integrity to cast a vote and make their views known,” he said.
Pressing his case for the bill, Black argued that it was not aimed at homosexuals; his only interest was the welfare of the adopted child. Virginia has long recognized the stable benefits of a home with a mother and father, he said.