TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Jan 14, 2020

In its first bill of the new legislative session, the state Senate passed a measure that would protect religious adoption agencies if they choose to discriminate against same-sex couples, the Tennessean reports. The bill states that no licensed adoption agency would be forced to participate in child placement if it were to “violate the agency's written religious or moral convictions or policies." It also protects the agency from lawsuits for refusing placement based on religious objections and from being denied a license or grant application for public funds because of such a refusal. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington, and was passed 20-6, with five Republican members declining to vote.