Governor Rick Snyder has signed into law legislation allowing private adoption agencies with state contracts to decline referrals which may be against their religious beliefs. Critics say that it amounts to government-sanctioned discrimination against gay couples.
Michigan now joins only two other states, Virginia and North Dakota, that have laws that are explicit in allowing private adoption agencies to turn away prospective parents for religious reasons. Snyder acted a day after the bills cleared the GOP-controlled legislature almost entirely along party lines.