Supreme Court declines to hear case of anti-LGBTQ Catholic foster care agency

The Supreme Court just sent a Catholic agency in Philadelphia a message about its desire to have access to tax dollars while discriminating against gay taxpayers.

Nope, Uh uh. Forget it. It ain't gonna happen.

From Reuters:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to force the City of Philadelphia to resume the placement of children in need of foster care with a Catholic agency that refuses to accept gay couples as foster parents. In a decision that Catholic Social Services had said would force its foster care program to close, the justices refused the religious agency's request for an injunction compelling the city to allow it to place children in foster homes while litigation over the dispute continues in lower courts.  

 A spokeswoman for the agency could not immediately be reached for comment.
 In the brief order that did not include any reasoning for the decision, three conservative members of the court, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, said they would have granted the agency's request. Five of the nine Supreme Court justices are needed to grant an injunction, but the court is currently one member short since Justice Anthony Kennedy retired at the end of July. The court is split 4-4 between liberal and conservative justices. President Donald Trump has nominated conservative federal appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Kennedy.

Conservative and religious right groups have been steadily attempting to justify why religious foster care and adoption agencies should be allow to discriminate against gays and still have access to tax dollars.  They've emphasized how supposedly children are best served by allowing this to happen. And they've implied that gay are being selfish for wanting to be treated fairly.

But one thing they couldn't do is make the argument as to how it is fair for gay tax dollars to go to entities which discriminate against gays. And that has been their Achilles heel.

Still, as ThinkProgress points out, the fact that three SCOTUS judges were willing to hear this case isn't necessarily a good thing.

Related posts:

Philly stops two agencies from placing foster children because they discriminate against gays

Philly Christian foster care agency agrees to work with gay couples, city stops suspension of its contract 

Federal judge sides with Philadelphia against anti-gay adoption agency