The Supreme Court announced Monday it will decide if faith-based adoption agencies can refuse to place children with gay couples.
The case, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, concerns whether the government would violate adoption agencies’ First Amendment rights by forcing them to comply with policies that contradict their religious beliefs.
The case arose when Philadelphia stopped working with Catholic Social Services in March 2018. The move came only days after the city sent out a message asking for more foster parents to get involved in the city’s system. The city informed the group that it would not be able to work with it unless it agreed to serve gay couples seeking children.
Spokesman for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Ken Gavin told the Philadelphia Inquirer at the time that the diocese-run organization would not budge on its position.
“The Catholic Church does not endorse same-sex unions, based upon deeply held religious beliefs and principles,” he said. “As such, CSS would not be able to consider foster care placement within the context of a same-sex union.”
Catholic Social Services is represented in the case by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a D.C.-based group that defended the retail chain Hobby Lobby before the Supreme Court against a government mandate requiring the corporation to provide its employees contraceptives it deemed abortifacients.
Becket requested in June 2018 a preliminary injunction that would allow Catholic Social Services to continue working with the city while the case was under review. Philadelphia’s district court denied it, and Becket appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The Third Court denied the request in April 2019, and Becket appealed to the Supreme Court in the summer.
Philadelphia City Solicitor Marcel Pratt told the Washington Examiner that the city will continue to work with Catholic Social Services in other areas but will continue the freeze on adoptions as long as the organization refuses “to consider qualified same-sex couples to become foster parents.”
“The City believes that the ruling from the Third Circuit affirming the City’s ability to uphold nondiscrimination policies was correct and will now prepare to demonstrate this to the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said in a statement. “This case is ultimately about serving the youth in our care, and the best way to do that is by upholding our sincere commitment to the dignity of all people, including our LGBTQ community.”
Protections for adoption agencies have become a contentious issue in many states. In addition to the Philadelphia lawsuit, Becket is also representing St. Vincent Catholic Charities in Michigan. The circumstances of the St. Vincent’s cases are similar to those in Philadelphia: The state in 2019 attempted to sever ties with the organization over religious freedom for adoption agencies. The case is ongoing.
Adoption has also become a contentious subject in state legislatures. Right now, bills are under consideration in Georgia and Missouri that would ensure faith-based groups would not be forced to place children anywhere that violates their “religious or moral convictions.”
In Georgia, gay and transgender groups have criticized the push for protections, with the gay activist group Georgia Equality calling it “unconscionable,” and state Rep. Matthew Wilson, a gay member of the legislature, calling the bill “hateful discrimination, pure and simple.”
In January, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a law giving protection to faith-based adoption agencies amid corporate backlash and outcry from gay and transgender advocates. Tennessee is the 11th state to offer such protections.
The Trump administration weighed in on the issue in November last year, proposing federal protections for faith-based adoption agencies.
