Sorry Nutbags, Even AZ's Hard-Right Gov Thinks Keeping Foster Kids From Gay Homes Is Dick Move

Is there a tinfoil hat shortage in Arizona? Republican Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order Wednesday rescinding a Department of Child Safety policy prohibiting legally married same-sex couples from adopting children or becoming foster parents, bringing actual state policy into line with a pledge Ducey had made last week to encourage more adoptions, regardless of whether adoptive parents were gay or straight.

In fact, Ducey was downright testy when he found out that the agency even had such a rule:

A spokesman for the governor said he just learned about the policy earlier Wednesday.

In a sharply worded statement, the governor said his administration is "unambiguously and unapologetically pro-adoption,'' and the policy, instituted without his knowledge, is unacceptable.

For a few months after a federal judge struck down Arizona's ban on same-sex marriage in November, the Department of Child Safety also eliminated restrictions on gay couples adopting or fostering children, but the ban was quietly reimposed a couple months back by the agency's former director, Charles Flanagan, who had been assured by Arizona's newly elected Attorney General Mark "It's Slavic, not a Typo" Brnovich that the federal ruling only applied to sodomite weddings, and so sodomite parenting could still be discriminated against just as God wanted. And while Gov. Ducey fired Flanagan earlier this year, his successor, Greg McKay, saw no reason to rock the Big Gay Boat, and just left the policy in place.

Ducey only learned of that quite little policy change Wednesday when a reporter asked about it, and he quickly rescinded it. In a prepared statement, Ducey said:

With 17,000 children under the state's care, we need more adoption in Arizona, not less. That is why I feel strongly, as I have said many times before, that all loving families should be able to serve as foster parents and adopt.

Son of a gun. We are talking about the Arizona that's wedged in between California and New Mexico, not some other one, right?

The Arizona Daily Star noted that this is "the second time that Ducey has blocked efforts to throw roadblocks in the past [sic] of gay couples who want to adopt." Earlier in April, Ducey also vetoed legislation that would have let county attorneys opt out of assisting with adoption cases, because why would you become a county attorney in Arizona if you didn't want to keep some people from having too many rights? When he killed the bill, Ducey said, "My concern is that this law could potentially reduce the number of adoptions."

Again, we do mean "Arizona," the place with the big canyon and the saguaros and the wingnutty legislators who want to ignore federal laws they don't like? No kidding. Well, that's certainly a pleasant surprise. Now, let's hope that Arizona won't allow any adoptions by members of the Arkansas House of Representatives, just to be on the safe side.

[ Arizona Daily Star via Joe.My.God. ]