Representative Angie Craig Announces Introduction of the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representatives Angie Craig (MN-02), Danny Davis (IL-07) and Jenniffer González-Colón (PR) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) joined Family Equality for a virtual press conference announcing the introduction of the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act of 2021. The legislation is named after the late Congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis, an adoptive parent who worked alongside Representative Craig last year to champion the bill in the 116th Congress.

This bipartisan federal legislation is designed to increase the number of homes available to all children in foster care and to improve services to LGBTQ+ and religious minority youth by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and marital status against families and youth in taxpayer-funded child welfare services.

"As an LGBTQ adoptive parent and a proud mother to four boys, I am painfully aware of the widespread discrimination that exists in the adoption and foster care system in this country," said Representative Craig. "No state should allow discrimination against LGBTQ foster children or adoptive parents who can provide a safe and loving home. I'm proud to help carry on John Lewis' legacy by joining my colleagues in introducing legislation to ensure that LGBTQ adoptive parents and children are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve in our foster care system."

Representative Craig is the first LGBTQ mother in Congress and a co-chair of the LGBTQ Equality Caucus. She is an original cosponsor of the Equality Act and the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act of 2021. You can learn more about her own adoption struggle here.