FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – A civil rights group is opposing Kentucky legislation that would bar gay and lesbian couples from adopting children.

The Fairness Campaign issued a statement on Feb. 16, calling the legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Gary Tapp, R-Shelbyville, “an anti-gay political attack.”

The measure would allow children to be placed only in adoptive or foster homes with people who “are not cohabiting outside of a marriage that is legally valid in Kentucky.”

Under the legislation, children who were already placed in such homes before the legislation was enacted would not be uprooted.

Chris Hartman, head of The Fairness Campaign, said the legislation unjustly rules out potentially good parents just because they’re not married in the traditional sense.

“We literally can’t afford to play politics with these children’s lives,” Hartman said. “Hundreds of children are awaiting adoption each day in Kentucky, and it should be our politicians’ jobs to find them a home, not to categorically eliminate potential loving parents with an anti-gay political attack.”

David Edmunds, a spokesperson for The Family Foundation, said the legislation isn’t discriminatory toward gay and lesbian couples because it also bars unmarried heterosexual couples from adoption and foster care.

“Kentucky needs to find the best homes possible for children,” Edmunds said. “This is not about an adults’ rights issue. It’s about what is in the best interest of our children.”

Hartman said at least six other states – Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska and Utah – have similar laws that he called “direct attacks” on nontraditional couples. The Kentucky measure, he said, “is irresponsible on every front” and isn’t likely to pass during the current legislative session.

Edmunds said he believes the legislation is in the best interest of children.

“We have decades of social science warning about the dangers of children born out of wedlock,” Edmunds said. “Why would Kentucky want to intentionally place children in that vulnerable position?”