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Washington Archdiocese Chooses Discrimination Over Foster Kids

By Fannie

Back in November, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington threatened to stop taking taxpayer money to provide social services if DC's same-sex marriage law passed.

Despite this threat, the law passed.

Making good on its promise, the Washington Archdiocese has recently chosen to get rid of its foster care program, because the same-sex marriage law requires contractors with DC to facilitate adoption of foster care children to same-sex couples.

So, those are the facts. The Catholic Archdiocese was receiving money through a contract with DC and, rather than potentially facilitating adoptions to same-sex couples, it chose to transfer it foster care program to another agency.

Let's see how some are reporting this situation:

"Forced to support homosexual couples, Washington archdiocese ends foster care."

Bzzzt, wrong. Nobody forced the Washington Archdiocese to do anything.

"After warning for months that the District's pending same-sex marriage law ? slated to go into effect March 2 ? put its 80-year-old foster care program in jeopardy, the Archdiocese of Washington formally ended its program February 1."

It was less that the "same-sex marriage law" put the Archdiocese's foster care program in jeopardy and more that the Catholic position on marriage and the morality of same-sex parenting put the program in jeopardy.

"The Archdiocese of Washington: not a victim, but a bully"

Actually, that one's pretty accurate.

The Archdiocese sought the special right to discriminate against LGBT people and still receive public funds. Given that the Catholic position is that god, rather than the state, has jurisdiction over marriage, family, and parenthood anyway, I am confident they will find their loss of secular funding in these areas to be non-problematic.

Full post as published by Fannie's Room on February 25, 2010 (boomark / email).