Washington, D.C. – Tuesday, a bill that would legalize adoption and foster parenting by same-sex couples was introduced. The “Every Child Deserves A Family Act” would prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status. Currently, seven states ban same-sex couples from adopting his or her partner’s children. Gay couples face legal issues when trying for joint adoption in five of those states. According to the Family Equality Council, the LGBT community face issues with adopting or fostering in 39 states.

Supporters are hopeful for the bill’s legalization, likely due to the recent shift in politician’s views on marriage equality. The bill has a bi-partisan backing in the House of Representatives: Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla). The lawmakers held a press conference on Tuesday, accompanied by same-sex couples. National Executive Director Jody M. Huckaby from Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) stated, “Why should more than 400,000 children remain in foster care – 104,000 of whom are eligible for adoption – when they could receive this support from loving, capable, and qualified lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents? This is truly discrimination at its worst: hurtful to the people who are being denied the opportunity to become parents, and harmful to thousands of vulnerable children being denied the opportunity for stable, loving, permanent homes.”

Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) regrets his vote to ban same-sex marriage in D.C. circa 1999. He now says, “I do believe that if there are children who are orphans who do not have a loving person or couple, I think if a person wants to love and raise a child they ought to be able to do that. Period. I would vote that way.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics came out in to publicly support same-sex marriage, as well as full adoption and foster care rights for all parents, regardless of sexual orientation. They concluded that there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that children raised by a homosexual couple are any worse off than those raised by hetero parents.

Chair of the AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Dr. Benjamin Siegel, released a statement reinforcing the need for gay-marriage:

“Children thrive in families that are stable and that provide permanent security, and the way we do that is through marriage.”