On second thought... just kidding about that statement a couple months ago.
Two months ago, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced that he
wouldn't sign a "religious freedom" bill. Today, he did just that.
Snyder signed three bills into law that will allow publicly-funded
adoption agencies to decline services to same-sex couples based on
religious grounds.It's a far cry from this statement, which Snyder made in April:
"Given all the events that are happening in Indiana, I thought it would be good to clarify my position," he said. "I would veto RFRA legislation in Michigan if it is a standalone piece of legislation."Maybe he didn't consider them "standalone," since these three anti-gay bills were bundled together.
Snyder, who prides himself on being a business focused pro-jobs governor (his twitter account is "@onetoughnerd") has now proven himself to be a guy who simply bends to the political winds. A couple months ago, the RFRA didn't look so good based on Indiana's blow-back. But this month, meh, why not?
If Snyder thinks this will attract jobs to Michigan, he is dead wrong. If he has any future political aspirations, this broken promise will hound him. And if he ever had a conscience, he seems to have lost it. After all, he's not Gov. Mike Pence—who's an actual true believer. Instead, Snyder's simply a sell out to political expediency now. Hard to know which is worse.
An estimated 3,000 kids in Michigan right now await placement in a home. Another 3,460 kids are currently being raised by lesbian, gay and bisexual parents in the Great Lakes State. But that doesn't matter to places like Catholic Charities of Shiawassee & Genesee Counties and it clearly doesn't matter to Snyder.
Though Snyder's statement said he was focused on "ensuring that as many children are adopted to as many loving families as possible," the Williams Institute found the three bills would instead ensure that some of those 3,460 adopted kids "would have remained in foster care for a longer period of time."
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