Willie Style

(from the Statesman.com main page)

House lawmakers on Tuesday voted to prohibit gay or bisexual people from becoming foster parents as part of the chamber's overhaul of child and adult protective services.

The amendment was rolled into the bill approved by the House of Representatives that, as expected, would also lower caseloads for investigators and hand over to private agencies some of the duties associated with protecting Texas children.

Members must approve the bill one last time before it clears the chamber.

The Senate already has passed the Child Protective Services reform legislation, Senate Bill 6, and sent it to the House. Its version does not have a ban on gay or bisexual foster parents.

The House plan was approved 126-16, with all the opposing votes coming from Democrats. The amendment to ban homosexual and bisexual foster parents was added by Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, near the end of nearly five hours of debate.

Talton's amendment would require the Department of Family and Protective Services to ask potential foster parents if they are homosexual or bisexual and to refrain from placing children with those parents. Currently, the agency does not ask that question.

The department also would be required to remove a child from a foster home if it determines that the parents are homosexual or bisexual.

"It's a learned behavior, and I think a child . . . ought to have the opportunity to be presented to a traditional family as such," Talton said. "And if they choose to be homosexual or lesbian, then that's their choice when they turn 18."