COLAGE calls on youth and adults with LGBTQ parents and their allies in Tennessee to get involved in Tennessee Equality Projects Week of Action to stop a harmful Adoption Ban bill.

Germantown Republican Senator Paul Stanley's bill banning unmarried couples from adopting will be heard this week in Senate Judiciary Committee. Judiciary Committee will be convening two times this week—Tuesday, 3:30 PM, CDT and Wednesday, 8:00 AM, CDT, allowing for more time to hear an extensive calendar. The committee will convene both days in Legislative Plaza Room 12. If you have the time, you may consider stopping by the Plaza to watch the bill’s debate. The legislation—SB 3910—is scheduled as the 34th bill on the calendar, and may well be put off until Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, though the bill has a negative fiscal impact to the state of an estimated of $4.5 million a year, Stanley still wants to present the bill for consideration by his fellow committee members. If this detrimental legislation does pass out of Senate Judiciary Committee, it will be sent to Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee because of its high fiscal impact.

Your help is needed to stop this bill. Click here to send a note to Senate Judiciary Committee members expressing your concern about SB 3910.

If you are a youth or adult with LGBTQ parents in TN and want to be more involved in efforts to stop the adoption ban, please contact Meredith Fenton, COLAGE Program Director.