Judge rules Michigan adoption agencies can bar LGBTQ couples

A judge in Michigan has ruled that religious-based adoption agencies that contract with the state can refuse to place children in LGBTQ homes. State Attorney General Dana Nessel reached a settlement earlier this year barring faith-based agencies from excluding same-sex couples from adoption services, but on Thursday a federal judge in Grand Rapids shot that down.

In 2017, Nessel, a Democrat who is Michigan's first openly gay statewide officeholder, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan sued the state on behalf of two lesbian couples. The couples claimed they were turned away from adoption agencies because they are gay. Nessel argued that was illegal discrimination, and in March 2019, reached a settlement overturning the practice.