JUDGE: CATHOLIC CHARITIES CAN REFUSE ADOPTIONS BY SAME-SEX COUPLES
Affirms exercise of religious beliefs about marriage
Subscribe to feed
image: https://www.wnd.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Wedding-rings-Pexels-copyright-free-photo.jpg
In a huge victory for a Catholic charity, a federal judge has blocked a new policy in Michigan that bans state contracts with foster and adoption agencies that refuse to place children with same-sex couples.
Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids issued a preliminary injunction Thursday saying Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel targeted the religious beliefs of St. Vincent Catholic Charities.
“What St. Vincent has not done and will not do is give up its traditional Catholic belief that marriage as instituted by God is for one man and one woman,” he wrote in his opinion.
Nessel and the ACLU of Michigan announced the policy as the result of a settlement in March to resolve a suit filed by lesbian couples who complained they were rejected because of their sexual orientation. Nessel determined such denials are illegal discrimination.
But the judge said statements by Nessel “raise a strong inference of a hostility toward a religious viewpoint.”
Jonker said that St. Vincent, based on its religious beliefs about marriage, “has exercised its discretion to ensure that it is not in the position of having to review and recommend to the state whether to certify a same-sex or unmarried couple, and to refer those cases to agencies that do not have a religious confession preventing an honest evaluation and recommendation.”
The judge pointed out that in 2015, the Michigan legislature “enacted legislation designed to protect that choice, and until January of 2019, the state defended the right of the state and St. Vincent to make that choice.”
“After her election, she reversed the course … re-interpreted the law; and put St. Vincent in the position of either giving up its belief or giving up its contract with the state. That kind of targeted attack on a sincerely held religious belief is what calls for strict scrutiny in this case and supports entry of a preliminary injunction preserving the status quo while the case is fulling litigated.”
St. Vincent Catholic Charities, represented by the non-profit Becket, was joined in the case by adoptive parents Chad and Melissa Buck, and Shamber Flore, a former foster child.
The federal court concluded “the state’s real goal is not to promote non-discriminatory child placements, but to stamp out St. Vincent’s religious belief and replace it with the state’s own.”
Becket said the Bucks adopted their five children through St. Vincent Catholic Charities, describing it as “one of the state’s most successful agencies.”
Shamber Flore “was adopted into a loving family thanks to St. Vincent.”
In 2017, Becket said, St. Vincent “recruited more new adoptive families than nearly 90 percent of the other agencies in its service area, but despite their success, they were targeted by the attorney general of Michigan simply because of their beliefs about same-sex marriage.”
Melissa Buck said St. Vincent “has been with us every step of our journey: answering every phone call, coming with us to doctor’s appointments, even bringing us food, as we strive to give our five beautiful children the best future they can have.”
Becket explained there now are some 13,000 children in foster programs in Michigan, and faith-based groups such as St. Vincent “have a proven record of effectively uniting vulnerable children – sibling groups, older children, and children with special needs – with loving families.”
“Our nation is facing a foster care crisis, and we are so glad that Michigan’s foster children will continue having all hands on deck to help them find loving forever homes,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket.
“The Bucks and St. Vincent Catholic Charities won a victory in Michigan, but there is still work to be done to ensure that faith-based agencies can contribute to ending our nation’s foster care crisis.”
The Buck family case was cited by President Trump in a speech when they were guests of the White House.
The president said his administration “is working to ensure that faith-based adoption agencies are able to help vulnerable children find their forever families while following their deeply held beliefs.”
“When we open our hearts to faith, we fill our hearts with love,” Trump said. “Many of the people in this room lead and support the charities and faith-based institutions that bring hope to the lives of our citizens, comfort to those in despair, and solace to those in grief, aid to those in need, and a helping hand to the struggling people all around the world, of which there are so many.”
Posts
