Appeal by UK Catholic Charity Lost in Gay Adoption Hearing

The last Catholic adoption charity in England, Catholic Care, lost its appeal to a tribunal, a May 4 article at anti-gay religious site LifeSiteNews reported. The charity had sought a way to avoid placing children in need of good homes with gay and lesbian families.

The article noted that UK law has banned discrimination against LGBTs since 2007, when the Sexual Orientations Regulations came into effect. Since that time, the article said, eleven Catholic adoption charities ceased to operate, or else dissociated themselves from the church.

The Catholic Church teaches that although gays and lesbians do not "choose" their sexual orientation, they are nonetheless "disordered" with respect to intimate personal relationships and are "called" by God to lead lives of celibacy. The church also rejects efforts by gays and lesbians to have their families recognized with equal status before the law as heterosexual families, and has called sex between two individuals of the same gender "inherently evil," regardless of the level of commitment in the relationship.

Catholic Care had argued that unless the tribunal allowed the charity to exclude gay and lesbian families from consideration when placing needy children in adoptive homes, church funding to support its efforts would cease, LifeSiteNews reported.

The Charity Commission had found against the Diocese of Leeds chapter of Catholic Care in June of 2009. A subsequent High Court decision in March of 2010 forced the Charity Commission to pay the court expenses of Catholic Care and to re-examine the case. The outcome remained the same, however.

The Charity Commission found that there were no "particularly convincing and weighty reasons justifying the proposed discrimination" of the adoption service against gay and lesbian families.

"In certain circumstances, it is not against the law for charities to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation," noted Andrew Hind, chief executive of the Charity Commission. "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."

Added Hind, "We have concluded that in this case the reasons Catholic Care have set out do not justify their wish to discriminate."

U.K. media service Sky News quoted further from Hind in an Aug. 19 story. "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." Hind went on to note, "Clearly the interests of children are paramount."

The adoption service had claimed that its services were needed to place children in need of stable, loving homes, especially hard to place children. However, the Charity Commission found that there were adequate alternatives in place to see to the needs of children and prospective adoptive parents. Moreover, the Charity Commission was satisfied that gay and lesbian families provide good homes for children in need, having consulted with local authorities on the matter.

The charity then issued a statement outlining their argument and announcing an intention to appeal.

"We believe that we have very strong grounds for the appeal and are convinced of our case," a spokesperson said at the time. "If upheld the Charity Commission's decision will lead to the closure of the Charity's services."

The spokesperson went on to say, "The Charity is not seeking to prevent same sex couples from adopting children; the Charity is simply seeking to ensure that it can deliver a valuable service in accordance with both the law and the religious ethos of the Charity."

During the appeal, the tribunal heard from the Bishop of Leeds, Arthur Roche, that Catholic adoption agencies should be granted an exemption with respect to adoption services. The bishop pointed to civil unions ceremonies, which churches are not required to perform.

The tribunal, however, rejoined that there was a crucial difference between the two.

"With the greatest of respect to the Bishop, his argument overlooked the essential distinction between private acts of worship such as blessings and the provision of a public service such as an adoption agency," the tribunal responded.

The tribunal questioned the claim that without money from the church, the charity would go under, LifeSiteNews reported.

"It is unfortunate that those who will suffer as a consequence of this ruling will be the most vulnerable children for whom Catholic Care has provided an excellent service for many years," said Roche after the tribunal arrived at its finding.

"It is an important point of principle that the Charity should be able to prepare potential adoptive parents, a service recognized for its excellence by the local authorities who are responsible for placing children, according to the tenets of the Catholic faith," added Roche.