As of January 1, it is no longer legal
for agencies to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples from
adopting children in England, Wales and Scotland, reports UK-based
the BBC.
When England's Equality Act became law in
April 2007 it outlawed discrimination against gay people, but 11
religious adoption agencies were given a 21-month exemption from the
law. Beginning in 2009, it is no longer permissible for those
agencies to reject gay applicants.
Religious, mostly Roman Catholic,
adoption agencies decried the law, saying it went against their
beliefs. One agency said it would close up shop. But five of the 11
agencies will now abide by the rule.
Robert Pigott, the BBC's religious
affairs correspondent, said the Catholic Church believed the rights
of gay people were being placed above the rights of Christians.
In the United States, only Florida and
Arkansas have laws that ban gay couples from adoption. Arkansas' Act
1, which makes it illegal for an unwed couple to foster or adopt a
child in a state that bans gay marriage, was approved by voters on
November 4, 2008. The ACLU recently filed a lawsuit aimed at
repealing the law that affects both gay and straight couples. A
Florida Supreme Court appeal of a lower court ruling favoring a gay
man in the adoption of two boys he has raised since 2004 may
ultimately decide the fate of Florida's thirty-one year old gay
adoption ban.
Catholic leaders in England warned the
11 agencies, which specialize in difficult to place children, would
close rather than accept pro-gay terms. The head of the Catholic
Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor,
predicted the services of the adoption agencies would be “tragically
lost to the country.”
Two of the remaining recalcitrant
agencies say they will refashion themselves as charities serving
heterosexual couples and single people so as to not run afoul of the
law.
The three remaining agencies have
remained silent on the issue.