Transsexual foster-care bill vetoed

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Governor Gray Davis of California has vetoed a bill that would have affirmed the rights of transsexual foster-care youth and expanded the recruitment of transsexuals as foster parents.

The bill would have called for the state’s foster-care office to address complaints from “gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender foster youth” and would have required it to report some complaints to other state agencies. It would have allowed the foster-care training program to address homosexuality and other issues regarding teenage sexual health.

The measure also would have required the State Department of Social Services to expand its recruitment of “gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender foster parents” in order to match them with foster youth of the same sexual identity.

Foes of the legislation said the bill would have discriminated against foster parents with strong religious convictions. Such parents would have been forced to choose between practicing their religious beliefs or being foster parents, opponents said. Foster parents who expressed disapproval of the homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality of children in their care could have been reported to the state, investigated and forced to participate in “sensitivity training,” they charged.

A leading opponent of the bill called the veto a “tremendous victory for children and families.”