When out lesbian Rep. Angie Craig steps into the fight for LGBTQ+ youth, she’s not doing it from a distance—she’s lived the system’s biases herself. Years ago, the Minnesota congresswoman had to battle anti-gay prejudice just to adopt her own child, navigating courts that didn’t quite know what to make of a queer mother ready to provide a loving home. Now, she’s turning that lived experience into legislation aimed at fixing a child welfare system that routinely fails LGBTQ+ kids and families.
Craig, alongside Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and a team of House colleagues, has reintroduced the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act, a sweeping bill designed to stop discrimination in adoption and foster care once and for all. The proposal targets agencies that receive federal funding—essentially telling them: If you take taxpayer dollars, you don’t get to reject children or parents because of who they are.
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At its core, the bill tackles three urgent problems: discrimination against LGBTQ+ youth, discrimination against LGBTQ+ prospective parents, and harmful practices like conversion therapy.
One of the most alarming issues highlighted by the bill itself is just how drastically LGBTQ+ kids are overrepresented in the foster system. According to the text, queer youth make up at least 30% of all children in foster care—twice what statistics would predict. For transgender and non-binary youth, the numbers climb even higher. These young people also report poor treatment at double the rate of their non-LGBTQ+ peers and face intensified risks of harassment, violence, and instability.
Not only are LGBTQ+ children more likely to be mistreated—they’re also more likely to be placed in group homes, and heartbreakingly, more likely to attempt suicide compared to queer youth who never entered foster care. The system is supposed to protect them; instead, it has become another source of trauma.
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Craig has no patience for that. “As an LGBTQ+ adoptive parent and a mother who had to fight in court to adopt my son, I have witnessed firsthand the widespread discrimination in our country’s adoption and foster care systems,” she said, underscoring exactly why she is pushing this legislation forward. She added that no state should be permitted to turn away LGBTQ+ children or LGBTQ+ adults ready to give them a safe and loving home.
On X, Craig shared:
“As a mother who had to fight in court to adopt my son, I have experienced the widespread discrimination in our country’s adoption and foster care systems firsthand. Every child deserves a loving home, and LGBTQ+ families should legally be allowed to provide one.
I’m proud to help carry on the late John Lewis’ legacy through our John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act.”
Beyond youth protections, the bill also responds to the ongoing exclusion of queer parents by some agencies—a practice still permitted in 15 states, many under the guise of “religious exemptions.” The legislation calls out the real-world consequences: when agencies turn away LGBTQ+ families, they shrink the number of available homes. And ironically, queer couples are seven times more likely to adopt or foster compared to their straight counterparts.
Gillibrand didn’t mince words either.
“Every child deserves a safe, loving household, and it is absolutely unacceptable that so many children are denied this access because of antiquated laws and deliberate discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals,” she said, emphasizing that public funds should never support bigotry.
What the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act Would Do
Reintroducing the bill for the ninth time, Craig and her colleagues are determined to get it across the finish line. This time, they’ve expanded it to include the creation of a National Resource Center focused on safety, well-being, and placement stability for LGBTQ+ youth, plus a stronger emphasis on data collection to finally quantify the discrimination these kids face.
Photo Credit: Rep. Angie Craig | Second District of Minnessota
It also includes a critical prohibition: foster caregivers would be barred from placing LGBTQ+ minors into any form of conversion therapy, which the bill rightly defines as “a form of discrimination that harms LGBTQ people.”
For Craig, the legacy of John Lewis—whom the bill honors—remains at the heart of it.
She said she’s proud to continue his mission, ensuring that queer families and queer youth are treated with “the respect and dignity they deserve.”
And that’s ultimately the message behind the entire effort: dignity, safety, permanence, and love. Things every child deserves without question—and things LGBTQ+ youth too often go without.
In a political landscape where LGBTQ+ protections are constantly under attack, this bill is not just policy. It’s a lifeline. It’s a promise. It’s a long-overdue correction to a system that has asked queer kids to be resilient instead of safe, and queer parents to be perfect instead of simply willing.
Whether Congress will finally act is still uncertain. But one thing is clear: Angie Craig isn’t backing down. Not when thousands of children’s futures depend on it.
REFERENCE: Rep. Angie Craig