Catholic Charity cannot Deny Gay Couples Right to Adopt
September 01, 2010
A Catholic charity is not allowed to restrict its adoption services to heterosexual parents on the grounds that doing so would be discriminatory and unjustified.
Catholic Church
The Charity Commission made the decision to prohibit discrimination for Catholic Care charities in England and Wales.
The decision comes on the heels of a High Court judgment in March, stating that justifying such discrimination within Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights would be difficult.
While acknowledging the high quality work of Catholic Care, the Commission stated the charity organization failed to provide sufficient reasoning to restrict adoption solely to heterosexuals.
The Commissions reasons were plenty, including the interests of the children and their access to a wide a pool of adoptive parents as possible.
Furthermore, evidence shows that gay adoptive parents have proven a success with no detriment to the child(ren). Additionally, the Commission believes that Catholic Care denying gay couples the right to adopt runs counter to the principle of equality.
Also, the Commission believed that religious values could not trump sexual orientation because of the charity service’s public role.
“This has been a complex and sensitive decision which the Commission has reached carefully, following the principles set out by the High Court, case law and on the basis of the evidence before us,” said Andrew Hind, chief executive of the Charity Commission.
“Clearly the interests of children are paramount. In certain circumstances, it is not against the law for charities to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation. However, because the prohibition on such discrimination is a fundamental principle of human rights law, such discrimination can only be permitted in the most compelling circumstances. We have concluded that in this case the reasons Catholic Care have set out do not justify their wish to discriminate.”
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