Illinois, Catholic Agencies At Odds Over Gay Adoptions
In Illinois, civil unions for gay couples became legal last month. Now, a battle is brewing over whether faith-based groups must change their practices and help gay couples adopt.
The day after civil unions went into effect in Illinois in June, Chicago's lush, flower-filled Millennium Park was full of music, families, friends and reporters. Circuit court judges conducted civil unions for more than 30 gay and lesbian couples. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn called it a historic day for Illinois.
"There are all kinds of different families in Illinois, and we understand and love one another. We understand that it is very, very important to have civil rights and civil unions," Quinn says.
But the law allowing civil unions has put the state and some faith-based organizations at odds. Catholic Charities agencies in five Illinois dioceses, which had received state funds to provide foster care and adoption services, only placed children with straight married couples or straight single people who lived alone.
As the civil union law went into effect, Catholic Charities in Rockford, Ill., ended its adoption service over concerns that it would have to place children with same-sex couples or face discrimination lawsuits. Catholic Charities in three other Illinois dioceses put licensing any new prospective parents on hold and sued the state.
Adoption By Religious Standards
Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society, represents Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Joliet, Peoria and Springfield. "The idea that a religious entity needs to check its religion at the door when it takes state money is a false idea," Breen says.
For decades, he says, Catholic Charities has referred unmarried couples — regardless of their sexual orientation — to other agencies or back to DCFS, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
"If the theory behind civil unions is live and let live, then those folks who are for civil unions can also be for Catholic Charities, and other religiously based adoption agencies, to provide services to the state which are valuable. And [the agencies] can continue to do it without shutting down — without compromising their deeply held religious beliefs," says Breen.
Kendall Marlowe, a spokesman for DCFS, says separate but equal just isn't good enough and the state's anti-discrimination position is clear.
"All agencies working for the Department of Children and Family Services must obey Illinois law," he says.
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We understand that it is very, very important to have civil rights and civil unions," Quinn says. But the law allowing civil unions has put the state and some faith-based organizations at odds. Catholic Charities agencies in five Illinois dioceses,
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Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, had this to say about his state's approval of civil unions: A civil union can never be accepted as a legitimate alternative to matrimony. I agree. Only the full rights
To Mario Cuomo, what always comes first and foremost is diversity, as he said on the matter of abortion in an immensely daring speech at Notre Dame, a Roman Catholic university, in September of 1984: “Human diversity — the right of everyone to his or
A Catholic bishop in New York even denounces it as an example of corrupt politics that has “demonized people of faith, whether they be Muslims, Jews, or Christians.” The gay marriage advocates envision the Empire State's becoming the sixth state to
Adoption Option: Ill. Agency Steps In To Help Kids After Bishop's ...
On June 1, a new law went into effect in Illinois that grants certain legal rights to same-sex couples. The state hasn’t adopted full marriage equality (yet), but civil unions are now recognized , meaning that same-sex couples enjoy many of the same rights are opposite-sex couples who are legally married.
Couples in a civil union now have automatic hospital visitation rights, the ability to make emergency medical decisions for one another, the right to share a room in a nursing home, the right to receive survivor benefits and the ability to be considered as adoptive parents or foster care providers.
This last provision proved to be something of a sticking point. Illinois Catholic Charities coordinates a lot of adoptions in partnership with the state, and the group absolutely refused to work with same-sex couples.
To its credit, the state of Illinois told Catholic Charities to play by the new rules or take a hike. Some Illinois affiliates of Catholic Charities chose the hike. At the time, dire warnings were heard that the sky would fall and children in need of homes would be left unserved.
It didn’t take long for another provider to step up to the plate . When 330 children in northern Illinois were left without services because Bishop Thomas Doran of the Diocese of Rockford ordered a pull out, David McClure was quick to step in.
McClure runs the Youth Service Bureau of Illinois Valley, a provider without religious ties. He quickly arranged for the children in need to make a smooth transition to his agency. There, he said, no otherwise qualified person will be turned down from being considered as an adoptive parent or foster-care provider simply because of sexual orientation.
McClure, who attends a Congregational church that welcomes gay members, told the Chicago Tribune that he draws on his faith as he goes about his work. He added that his experiences at church have made him realize that same-sex couples can be great parents.
“We don’t have enough foster parents, period,” he said. “My friendships with people at that church helped me realize that these distinctions don’t need to be made.”
What a refreshing blast of common sense. Instead of blindly imposing religious criteria that automatically excludes people because they don’t measure up to a church’s idea of what’s moral, McClure’s agency intends to examine couples on a one-to-one basis and seek out those who are ready to take on the challenge of being care-givers.
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