Illinois Catholic Charities vows to resist same-sex adoptions
May 05, 2011
Catholic Charities of Illinois has asked for an exemption from statewide rules requiring equal treatment for same-sex couples, warning that the agency might otherwise drop its adoption and foster-care services.
The new Illinois regulations, which go into effect June 1, require adoption agencies to place children with same-sex couples. Catholic Charities does not process applications from homosexual couples—although the agency is willing to pass along those applications to other adoption agencies.
Spokesmen for Catholic Charities said that the group would not change its policies, and would continue to provide adoption services only for married couples. (Illinois will allow same-sex couples to register civil unions, but does not recognize same-sex marriage.) That policy will remain in effect, spokesmen said, unless Catholic Charities is forced, by legal action or by a loss of state funding, to end its adoption and foster-care services. “If we are forced out, it is the children that are going to be affected,” a spokesman noted.
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Further information:
- Catholic Charities threatens to block gay adoptions (WBEZ)
- Catholic Charities Might Stop Adoption and Foster Care Services (KWQC)
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Posted by: frjpharrington3912 -
May. 05, 2011 9:47 PM ET USA
Illinois Catholic Charities should not capitulate to pressure from the state and compromise it principles by placing children with same-sex couples. Rather it should stand firm and challenge the state's anti-discrimination laws on the grounds that these laws punitively discriminate against the free exercise of religion in society. The state exists to foster the common good of which the free exercise of religion and the values associated with religious belief are an integral part.
