COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Some activists are angry that legislators plan to include a group that opposes same-sex marriage on a panel studying whether unmarried couples can adopt children.

The Palmetto Family Council is the only private group so far given a position on a committee studying a bill before the state Senate that would bar unmarried couples from adopting children or becoming foster parents. The conservative Christian-interest group is a nonprofit that advocates for traditional families and opposes same-sex marriage.

“It doesn’t make sense that they’re the main opposition [to gay and lesbian adoption] and they get a seat on the committee,” said Johanna Haynes, chairwoman of the South Carolina Equality Coalition. “We’re hoping that would be reconsidered and we would at least get a seat at the table, too.”

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mike Fair, said he didn’t know how the Palmetto Family Council got on the study committee and he would consider removing the group.

Fair, R-Greenville, said he would have to think about having a gay and lesbian group sit on the panel because their behavior is not condoned by most South Carolinians.

“That gives them a legitimacy that society and South Carolina says isn’t acceptable.”

The original bill prohibited gay or unmarried couples from adopting or becoming foster parents, but a provision was added requiring a two-year study by a selected committee on the issue. The requirement would not delay the law taking effect if passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor.

The bill is not likely to pass the Senate this year, but Oran Smith, president of the Palmetto Family Council, said his group is working to get it through the Legislature.

Smith said he would welcome help on the committee from a gay and lesbian group. He said the Palmetto Family Council is opposed to any unmarried couple, gay or straight, adopting a child.

“I think we need to protect our children from modeling that behavior,” Smith said.

Gay and lesbian activists say many studies have shown children thrive in nontraditional families and that is why it is important that they, or at least an unbiased social scientist, be included on the committee.

“It’s not a political thing; it’s about families,” said Warren Redman-Gress, executive director of Alliance for Full Acceptance, a gay and lesbian advocacy group in Charleston. “It’s a study committee, it’s not a lunch group.”