Think Progress has pointed out something very interest when it comes to the Catholic Church's very pronounced opposition to marriage equality.
An argument of those who oppose marriage equality is that it would force religious entities to violate their personal beliefs. One of these entities is the Catholic Charities, which works to place children in adoptivehomes. According to the National Organization for Marriage and others who oppose marriage equality, allowing same-sex couples to wed would force Catholic Charities to choose between abandoning children who need to be adopted or going against the Catholic Church's beliefs against homosexuality.
However, as Zack Ford from Think Progress points out, the situation in Colorado involving the possibility of civil unions reveals that this argument may not be true and Catholic Charities could be using children as pawns to stop marriage equality:
You see that? Even when informed that they are excluded from the Colorado civil union law, the Catholic Charities are volunteering to place children in jeopardy of not being placed in adoptive homes.
It's a sad thing to think that stopping marriage equality is a zero sum game to the Catholic Church and if children are to be used as pawns then so be it.
An argument of those who oppose marriage equality is that it would force religious entities to violate their personal beliefs. One of these entities is the Catholic Charities, which works to place children in adoptivehomes. According to the National Organization for Marriage and others who oppose marriage equality, allowing same-sex couples to wed would force Catholic Charities to choose between abandoning children who need to be adopted or going against the Catholic Church's beliefs against homosexuality.
However, as Zack Ford from Think Progress points out, the situation in Colorado involving the possibility of civil unions reveals that this argument may not be true and Catholic Charities could be using children as pawns to stop marriage equality:
During last week’s hearing before the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee, a spokesperson from Catholic Charities testified that if the state legally recognized same-sex civil unions, the organization would halt all adoption and foster care services in the state, as they have in states like Illinois. Senators Pat Steadman (D) and Ellen Roberts (R) pointed out that — unlike in other states’ laws — the proposed bill clearly says that adoption agencies will not be required to place children with gay and lesbian couples, but Catholic Charities threatened to end its services nontheless:
CATHOLIC CHARITIES: We would not be able to adopt to same-sex couples.
STEADMAN: And the bill doesn’t ask you to.
ROBERTS: I just have one clarification as to whether you think the bill would prohibit those services or if you think, under a state of law, you would choose not to provide those services?
CATHOLIC CHARITIES: Under the state of law, Catholic Charities would have to discontinue our service in adoption and foster care. We would discontinue our service.
You see that? Even when informed that they are excluded from the Colorado civil union law, the Catholic Charities are volunteering to place children in jeopardy of not being placed in adoptive homes.
It's a sad thing to think that stopping marriage equality is a zero sum game to the Catholic Church and if children are to be used as pawns then so be it.
3 comments:
I watched the testimony and the CC rep. just refused to listen to the facts. Suprise!
They don't have to stop adoptions anywhere. They just have to stop receiving public funds to run the agency. But then as long as they have so many child sex abuse cases to pay off they don't have the money run an adoption agency.
They stopped everything in DC including soup kitchens. So much for taking care of the poor and hungry.
They made the same threat here in IL. Another, secular, agency stepped in and took over the cases and hired Catholic Charities' caseworkers. There was state money involved, so the other agency was only too happy to take over Catholic Charities contract and get paid to do the job they'd been doing.
And from the perspective of the foster and adoptive families? The only thing the changed was the issuer of the stipend checks and the paperwork on the adoption papers.
Catholic Charities is not doing anything that any other social welfare agency is not perfectly capable of doing just as well.
I want to be a fly on the wall when the people go to a little boy or girl and say, "We could have a home for you, but you're still in the system because some of them are LGBT families and we don't adopt to them." Forget our rights for a moment, how do you do that to a child; keep them out of a loving home because you're religion says so.
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