A Roman Catholic adoption charity in the United Kingdom has lost its appeal to be allowed to discriminate against gay men and women. Catholic Care wanted exemption from new anti-discrimination laws so it could limit its services to gay couples on religious grounds. The Charity Commission found there was no justification for barring gay and lesbian parents, saying gay people are suitable parents and religious views do not justify discrimination. BBC reports Catholic Care had been placing children with adoptive parents for more than 100 years. It was among a dozen Catholic agencies in England and Wales forced to change their policy towards homosexual people by the equality laws passed in 2007. The agency tried to change its constitution so that it would be committed to following Catholic teaching and placing children only with heterosexual parents. It's released a statement saying it's very disappointed with the outcome. "Catholic Care will now consider whether there is any other way in which the charity can continue to support families seeking to adopt children in need." The Guardian reports the country's Catholic hierarchy fought hard to secure an exemption for adoption agencies and their struggle became the focus of an unprecedented papal outburst last February, which saw Benedict XVI condemn UK equality legislation. In a strongly worded letter to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, the pope criticised the then-Labour government for creating "limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs".
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 20th August 2010 - 9:55am