Catholic World News News Feature

Court orders mother to not expose child to "homophobic" religious upbringing October 31, 2003

The Christian mother of a young child, is appealing a court decision which ordered her to "make sure that there is nothing in the religious upbringing or teaching that the minor child is exposed to that can be considered homophobic."

The natural mother, Dr. Cheryl Clark, converted to Christianity and left a lesbian relationship with Dr. Elsey McLeod, but the courts awarded shared parenting responsibilities to McLeod, who has no legal relationship to the child or the mother and is still a practicing homosexual.

The Colorado Court of Appeals will hear the appeal of the decision by Justice John W. Coughlin of the Denver County District Court. The Liberty Counsel is filing an amicus brief in the case in support of the Christian mother.

Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, said that the trial court's decision is troubling in many respects.

First, the court has awarded visitation and joint parenting responsibilities to a third-party who has no legal relationship to the daughter or the mother. The decision stands in direct conflict with precedent throughout the country that denies visitation to a third party based solely on that person's prior sexual relationship with the legal parent.

Second, the order restricting the religious instruction of the daughter violates the natural mother's constitutional rights to direct the religious training of her children. The order forbids the mother from exposing her daughter to anything "homophobic." Hypothetically, the judge could find the mother in contempt of court for teaching her daughter about Biblical truths on homosexuality.

Staver commented, "Forbidding the raising of children in the parent's Christian beliefs is an anathema to parental rights and religious freedom. Must the mother rip out pages of the Bible that say homosexuality is against nature, or must she cover her child's ears if her pastor preaches about sexual purity? Courts may not give parents a no-win decision of either abandoning their Christian beliefs or abandoning their children."