Texas Might Ban Gay Foster Parenting

Conservatives have pledged to fight for the measure, part of a bill to revamp the state's Child Protective Services agency, despite concerns that as many as 3,000 children could be removed from their homes.

The proposal surfaced this week as an amendment offered by state Rep. Robert Talton, a Republican from this largely industrial city southeast of Houston. The House approved it Tuesday on an 81-58 vote. The bill will go to a conference committee, because the Senate version does not contain the foster parent provision.

Talton said his proposal was necessary to protect traditional families.

"It is my belief that the vast majority of Texans share my concerns regarding the placement of our most vulnerable children in less than ideal circumstances," he said in a statement. Talton declined to discuss the issue further.

The measure would require the state to ask prospective foster parents whether they are gay. If the answer is yes, that person would not be considered an eligible caregiver. Foster children who live with gay parents would be placed in new homes.

Eva Thibaudeau, 30, a Houston social worker, and her partner, 30-year-old Christina Rodriguez, have cared for 80 foster children in the last eight years. And they adopted four of them: an 11-year-old boy, a 9-year-old boy and 2-year-old twins, a boy and a girl.

Thibaudeau is a board member of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas. She said she learned of the proposal this week from the group's organizers in Austin.

"I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me," she said. "This is being driven by misinformation, a lack of education and homophobia. It certainly isn't being driven by the best interest of children."

The measure would allow the government to conduct investigations to determine whether prospective and current foster parents were being truthful about their sexual orientations.

Mike Gross, vice president of the Texas State Employees Union, called the provision an "outrageous breach of civil rights and privacy rights."

Even some people who otherwise support the bill said they were troubled by the provision. Cathie Adams -- president of the Texas Eagle Forum in Dallas, a conservative political action group -- called it a concern.