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On February 12, 2021 I was invited to testify before the Virginia General Assembly. They were considering a vote on HB1932, a bill that would repeal all conscience protections for child-placement agencies in the state. Repealing these protections would lead to an inevitable collision between religious liberty and erotic liberty, between Christian agencies that believe marriage is between one man and one woman and the redefinition of the family that has now swept over our culture.

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Sadly, the speakers were cut short before I was able to testify. Below are the remarks I planned to make to the committee: 

Thank you, madam chair and members of the committee. My name is Michael Hopson Boutot, I’m a father of four living in Hampton Roads. My family will be traveling to Bogota on Monday morning to finalize a lengthy adoption process. After waiting four years we will finally meet our fifth child, a little boy named Ezekiel. And the assistance of public servants like you helped make it possible. So thank you.

HB 1932 poses a difficult decision for many of you. But let’s be clear: this is primarily a debate about whether religious organizations, primarily Christians like me, should be able to operate according to their convictions. Namely, their convictions about marriage and what constitutes a family.

I realize that historic Christian convictions about marriage and the family may seem strange to you, but I assure you these are not the strangest things we believe.

For two thousand years Christians have believed the Apostle Paul when he wrote in Ephesians, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.”

We really believe there is a God who made the world and everything in it. We really believe that by nature, all of us are orphans separated from God. And we really believe that God, in love, sent His son Jesus Christ to die on a cross and rise from death so we could be adopted into His family.

That might seem like irrelevant dogma to you, but I assure you it has everything to do with HB 1932. You see, adoption is more than just an activity for some Christians, it’s the identity of all Christians.

That’s why throughout church history, and all over the world today, Christians have been on the forefront of the adoption movement. We love like this because we’ve been loved like this. We can’t help ourselves.

And that’s why forcing Christians to choose between our beliefs and our desire to help children in need is an impossible choice.

Repealing the existing conscience protections for child-placement agencies will help no one and hurt the most vulnerable. If Christian agencies can no longer operate according to Christian convictions, there will be fewer agencies. And fewer agencies means fewer homes, which means fewer children finding forever families.

I’m sure most of us would disagree on a lot of things. But I’m confident we agree on this: caring for vulnerable children matters. We need to increase—not decrease—children’s opportunities to be placed with safe and loving families, including those (like mine) that choose to work with faith-based agencies that share their beliefs. So please, keep the current protection and vote NO on HB 1932.

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Sadly, the bill went on to pass 8-7. It was an amended version of the bill that did leave some minor protections for faith-based agencies, but it's clear that's just an intermediate step until the delegates feel they can repeal conscience protections entirely. These are sad days in our state for Christians who care about adoption.