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(Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

The Alabama Senate has passed a bill protecting the state licenses of faith-based child adoption agencies that choose not to place children with same-sex couples.

The Alabama Child Placing Agency Inclusion Act says that the state could not refuse to license or re-license agencies because of policies based on religious beliefs.

That protection would not apply to agencies that receive any state or federal funding.

The Senate passed the bill 23-9 mostly along party lines. All eight Senate Democrats voted against it. Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, was the only Republican to vote against it.

The bill, by Rep. Rich Wingo, R-Tuscaloosa, returns to the House, which could concur with a Senate amendment and give it final passage.

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said the bill would "sanction discrimination."

Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, who is gay and an outspoken advocate on gay rights issues, called the bill "bigotry in the first degree."

Wingo has said there are secular organizations providing adoption and foster care services for children, so same-sex couples have alternatives.

Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, echoed that remark tonight after the vote, saying that most adoptions are handled by the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

"Those individuals who want to go that route have that route," Marsh said. "What we're trying to do is say is, 'OK, you also can't discriminate against religious organizations who want the ability to place these kids where they think they'd be best suited for them."