Naked City

Photo By Diana Welch

UT campus group Stand Out organized a rally at the Capitol Friday in reaction to an amendment made to CPS reform bill SB 6. Introduced by Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, piggyback legislation Amendment 60 would not only prohibit gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults from being foster parents in the future, but would also actively seek out and remove kids already placed with GLB parents. "If the conferees who we expect to get appointed get appointed, that language will come out," state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, who attended the rally, told the crowd, before beseeching citizens to contact members of the Legislature, "because you never know in this business. Especially these days, when we're dealing with an unprecedented level of mean-spiritedness and arrogance." He warned that the mean-spiritedness doesn't end with Talton's Amendment 60. "We need to be vigilant about other amendments and other bills that focus on hate and discrimination. We need to think more in terms of compassion and we need to let the members of the Legislature know that."