COLUMBUS, OH– The ACLU of Ohio expressed outrage after the introduction of House Bill 515 by Representative Ron Hood (R-Ashville). The bill, introduced on February 9, would prohibit foster and adoptive children from being placed in the home of any gay, bisexual or transgender person.

ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link said, “Current Ohio practices put the best interest of children first. This bill would severely limit case workers, local agencies and family court judges from acting of behalf of the best interests of children.”

Link went on, “Experts on adoption such as social workers, pediatricians and psychologists from around the nation have agreed that there is no child-welfare basis for banning gay adoption when it is in the best interest of the child. Politicians legislating these types of social welfare cases will only result in harming innocent children around the state.”

Besides preventing children from entering into healthy, loving homes, a ban on gay adoption will affect social services around the state in other ways.

At any given time there are around 6000 children in Ohio waiting to be adopted. By removing a large group of people from the pool of potential parents, many children will have to wait much longer to be placed in a foster or adoptive home. This will mean the state will be forced to allocate more funds to caring for children who have not been placed in a home.

Link added, “This bill is blatant discrimination in its worst form. It will only cause families to be ripped apart, children to be denied a loving home and the social services systems in Ohio to be flooded with children who would have been otherwise placed in healthy environments.”