Kentucky

A Senate bill that would have banned gay couples from adopting or fostering children appears to be dead this legislative session.

The measure's sponsor, Republican Sen. Gary Tapp of Shelbyville, said Senate leaders will not bring Senate Bill 68 to a vote in the final four days of the legislative session. Tapp said Wednesday that he plans to file the bill again next year.

Approximately 150 people protested in Frankfort, Kentucky yesterday against proposed Senate Bill 68, which intends to bar gays and lesbians from serving as foster parents or adopting children.

The Fairness Campaign is opposing Kentucky Senate Bill 68 [sponsored by state Sen. Gary Tapp, R-Shelbyville] that would bar gay and lesbian couples from adopting children.

The AP reports that the measure would allow children to be placed only in adoptive or foster homes with people who "are not cohabiting outside of a marriage that is legally valid in Kentucky."

The Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled that gays and lesbians must be excluded from step-parent style adoptions.

According to The Courier-Journal, a local woman cannot adopt her partner's biological child, because "stepparent adoptions are allowed only when the stepmother or father is married to the biological parent, and marriages between gays are forbidden by both statute and Kentucky's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage."

The AP reports that some Kentucky legislators want an anti-bullying bill for their schools.

The House Education Committee unanimously approved such a resolution, but conservative Senate President David Williams is concerned that the bill could be - in his words - "an excuse for the addition of curriculum dealing with aberrant behavior." Williams admits he has not yet read the bill.