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Romney Rejects Gay Adoption Exemption Phil Brennan, NewsMax Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and the state have turned thumbs down on efforts by the state's Catholic bishops to obtain an exemption from laws banning discrimination against gay and lesbian couples adopting children through Catholic social service agencies such as Catholic Charities. Although the Vatican has termed such adoptions "gravely immoral," Romney, a Mormon and a strong opponent of gay marriage himself, claimed that he lacks the power to grant such an exemption, explaining that when he learned of the bishops' plan, he asked his legal counsel to research whether he had the authority to exempt an organization from regulations governing the placement of children with same-sex couples. "My understanding is that any exemption would require legislation and would not be something I would be authorized to do on a personal basis," the governor told the Boston Globe. Moreover, the chairman of the joint committee on the judiciary, state Rep. Eugene L. O'Flaherty, says there would be little support among lawmakers for any request by Catholic adoption agencies for an exemption from the state's antidiscrimination policies. "I would say there would not be an appetite to entertain that," O'Flaherty told the Globe. "We have enough on our plate already." He added that he would oppose granting such an exemption to any social agency that contracted with the state, although stating that he respected the church's right to follow its own doctrine on the issue. Story Continues Below
These developments came on the heels of a Globe report that the state's four bishops planned to hire a Boston law firm to explore legal and political strategies for opting out of gay adoptions. According to the Catholic Charities of Boston, the social service arm of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, over the past two decades it has placed 13 children with same-sex couples, in compliance with state law, a fraction of the total of 720 adoptions the group completed during that time. The Globe reported that those adopted were all foster children who were considered hard to place because they had special needs or were older. The 42-member board of Catholic Charities of Boston voted unanimously in December to continue the practice of allowing gays to adopt, putting themselves squarely at odds with the bishops' plans as well as church doctrine. In a 2003 declaration, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that homosexual adoptions "mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development." The Globe said that bishops may also consider going to court to fight the requirement that they adhere to the state's antidiscrimination policy, on First Amendment grounds protecting religious freedom. If Catholic Charities does not get an exemption, however, it either has to allow gay adoptions in violation of Church law or risk having its adoption license pulled, state officials have said.
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note:
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