Can state and county government make up for discriminatory practices at the federal level?

We sincerely hope so.

We find a model in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signing last week of legislation — The Restoration of Honor Act — that gives veterans who were denied an honorable discharge because of their sexual orientation or gender identity the right to apply to have their New York State veterans’ benefits restored.

Only the federal government can change discharge decisions but this act at least allows LGBT — lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual — veterans to apply to claim their New York State benefits.

“Countless service members were discharged from the military simply because of who they are,” said the governor in a statement on signing the bill into law. “Adding insult to injury, they were then denied the services and benefits they earned as members of our armed forces who fought to protect our country and defend our ideals.

“With this measure, we are righting that wrong and sending a message to LGBTQ veterans that we have their backs, just as they had ours.”

New York is the first state in the nation to adopt such legislation; other states should follow.

Gay and lesbian Americans have for nearly a decade been able to openly serve in the military and our country was stronger for it. Backtracking to an era of prejudice undermines not just our military but our country as a whole.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration proposed a rule that would allow adoption and foster-care agencies to deny services to LGBT families on the grounds of faith. The rule, proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, would roll back a 2016 discrimination regulation instituted by the Obama adminisration that included sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes.

The rule is currently in a 30-day comment period, after which it would become final.

Catholic and evangelical organizations, such as the Family Research Council, lauded the rollback. “Family Research Council believes that homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large, and can never be affirmed,” the council proclaims on its website. “It is by definition unnatural, and as such is associated with negative physical and psychological health effects."

In a statement of support for the rollback, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, praised President Donald Trump and spoke of  “the reality that children do best in a home with a married mom and dad.”

Is that actually the reality?

Would a child be better in an institution than in a loving home? It is purely a matter of prejudice to assert that a child cannot be loved and raised well in a home with a single mother, a single father, a gay couple, or a lesbian couple.

In 2017, over 670,000 children in our country were in foster care, according to the Adoption Network and more than 60 percent of children in foster care spend 2 to 5 years in the system. Some never get adopted.

Meanwhile, as children languish, the demographics of child-rearing are changing in our country.

According to the most recent information from the United States Census Bureau, between 1960 and 2016, the percentage of children living in families with two parents decreased from 88 to 69. Of those 50.7 million children living in families with two parents, 47.7 million live with two married parents and 3.0 million live with two unmarried parents.

During the same period, from 1960 to 2016, the percentage of children living with only their mother nearly tripled from 8 to 23 percent and the percentage of children living with only their father increased from 1 to 4 percent. The percentage of children not living with any parent increased slightly from 3 to 4 percent.

A report from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimated that 114,000 same-sex couples were raising children in the United States, many of them through adoption or fostering.

According to the study, over two-thirds of same-sex couples who are raising children have biological children (68 percent), but same-sex couples are significantly more likely than different-sex couples to be raising adopted or foster children. One in five same-sex couples (21.4 percent) are raising adopted children compared to just 3 percent of different-sex couples. And 2.9 percent of same-sex couples have foster children compared to 0.4 percent of different-sex couples.

Further, a 2014 study by the Williams Institute found that the children of LGB parents fare as well as children of different-sex parents. And, for the 32-year National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, which has followed the same cohort of offspring from conception to adulthood, the researchers compared relationships, educational/job performance, and behavioral, emotional and mental health problems in the two samples. Results showed that the mental health of young adults with lesbian parents is the same as their peers with heterosexual parents.

Here in Albany County, Mary Rozak, spokeswoman for the county executive, told us, “Children come into care based on concerns of safety.” That is as it should be.

When children are no longer safe in their homes — and the opioid crisis has added to those concerns — they should be moved to a safe place.

We were relieved and pleased to learn that Albany County is not blinded by prejudicial views when placing the children in its care.

“Our foster parents are diverse and representative of the community,” said Rozak. “We do have single household foster parents. We do have gay/lesbian foster parents who do actively foster and/or have gone in to adopt children. We do not require that foster parents are married and/or are heterosexual.”

Further, we were heartened to learn that church organizations in our midst are not discriminatory. St. Catherine’s Center for Children, based in Albany, was founded in 1886 by a group of Roman Catholic nuns, the Daughters of Charity, to care for sick orphans. Today, it offers many services for children and families struggling with abuse, neglect, trauma, mental illness, and homelessness, including a foster-care program for children with special needs.

Answering our questions about its selection of foster parents, Brian Bell, director of agency advancement for St. Catherine's, wrote, “In recruiting potential foster parents, St. Catherine’s places no restrictions on the marital status, gender identity, or sexual orientation of a potential foster care provider.

“Individuals or couples may foster a child.

“Requirements for foster parenting do include a minimum age, 21 years, an income adequate for supporting a foster child or children, and a home with a bedroom and a bed for the child.”

Bell added, “Our practice will not be affected by any current federal policy changes.”

Good for St. Catherine’s putting children’s needs first, and not bending to discriminatory federal rules.

Good for Albany County recognizing the richness in diverse parents.

Good for New York State whose governor has said, “No matter what happens in Washington, New York State is and will continue to be a beacon of equality … Our Human Rights Law and adoption regulations expressly prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ community including when it comes to adoption.”

The requirement for a child’s placement should be a loving home. To deny children in need access to such homes because of prejudice codified into government rules is against the founding principles of our nation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” wrote the founders of our republic.

We’ve come far in the 243 years since the writing of the Declaration of Independence; those who qualified as citizens then were white, Christian, property-holding men but citizenship, and along with it those unalienable rights, has since expanded to include all of us — of different means, different genders, different races, different religions, and different sexual orientations.

Do we want to backtrack now and discriminate anew?