Romney wants antigay exemptions for Catholic Church  | News | Advocate.com

||  News  ||
March 08, 2006
Romney wants antigay exemptions for Catholic Church

Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said on Monday he's trying to find a way to exempt Roman Catholic social services agencies from a law requiring them to consider gays as adoptive parents. Romney said he doesn't have the power to unilaterally exempt Catholic Charities from the state's antidiscrimination laws. But he said he wants to let Catholic agencies continue placing children with adoptive parents without violating the teachings of their faith.

"The church through its Catholic Charities provides an extraordinary service to the commonwealth by placing many special needs children every year in homes," Romney told reporters. "That's a service I hope we will continue to be able to avail ourselves of." Romney did not elaborate on what options he is exploring. Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, broke with Romney last week, saying she's opposed to exempting the church from the antidiscrimination laws.

In the past two decades, 13 of the 720 children placed with adoptive families by Catholic Charities have been placed in gay households. The state's four Catholic bishops have said the state law threatens the church's religious freedom by forcing it to do something it considers immoral.

Seven members of the Catholic Charities board stepped down last Wednesday in protest of the bishops' stance. An eighth board member resigned on Thursday. The 42-member board had voted unanimously in December to continue considering gay households for adoptions.

Romney met in his office Wednesday with church leaders, including Boston archbishop Sean O'Malley, and said religious institutions should be able to help people without violating their faith. "Ultimately, legislation may need to be filed to provide an exemption based on religious principles," Romney said in a statement released after the meeting.

Any legislation seeking to grant the Catholic Church an exemption could face a tough time on Beacon Hill. House speaker Salvatore DiMasi said he supports the state's antidiscrimination law, including the part allowing gay parents to adopt. "The state's top priority should be placing children in loving and caring homes, regardless of adoptive parents' race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation," DiMasi said last week. "Denying same-sex couples the right to be considered is discriminatory and runs counter to the principle that all citizens are created equal under the law."

Arline Isaacson, cochair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, said she is baffled why the issue is coming up now. "We fought this battle from 1985 to 1991, and the courts settled the question in the early 1990s," she said. "If the Catholic Church had a problem with gay adoptions, the question was resolved over a decade ago. It makes no sense that they are raising it now."

Geri Denterlein, one of the Catholic Charities board members who resigned, said she had no inside knowledge why the bishops asked for the exemption now. "I think it's something related to Rome and how the Vatican is thinking about the United States and gay marriage," she said. (AP)

© 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Be the first to comment on this story.

Back to top

Submit a comment for this story:

*Type your comment here (Required, 1000 characters max.):

*Name (Required): 

*Hometown (Required): 

*E-mail address: (Required, but will not be displayed)

Is this comment for publication? 
Yes   No

Daytime phone number: (Required for print publication only and will not be displayed)

Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.

  

If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above. 

All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.

Comments that do not concern specific articles in The Advocate or on Advocate.com will not be posted or published. See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.

Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.

More Exclusives
  • Police Woman
    Long before Sam Adams made waves as Portland, Ore.'s gay mayor, the macho world of Oregon police enforcement was crashed by lesbian Jennifer Bills
  • Phair Play
    Fifteen years after the release of her revolutionary album Exile in Guyville, Liz Phair performs all of the album's 18 tracks in Chicago -- with mixed results
  • Aloha From Hawaii
    Advocate.com correspondent Job Brother takes a look at Starwood Hotels' newest property on Kauai and some of the resort group's recently remodeled gems on Oahu.
  • She Still Bops
    With Cyndi Lauper and a who's who of queer and queer-friendly talent, the True Colors tour is entertainment for all orientations and all generations.
  • State of the Unions
    Searching for the perfect tux? Wondering what you need to know to tie the knot? Look no further. The Advocate has joined forces with our friends at Out to bring you a comprehensive guide to all things marriage.
  • Obama Woos Clinton Donors, LGBTs Included
    Sen. Barack Obama meets with Hillary Clinton's donors in D.C. on Thursday, but the campaign's efforts to romance Clinton's LGBT fund-raisers is still finding its groove.
  • I'm a Dad
    Actor, singer, and all-around entertainer Sam Harris talks about his journey of adoption and the joys of taking on his latest title: father.
  • Good Golly, Miss Molly
    Molly Ringwald discusses her new ABC Family series, her daughter's gay godfather, her obsession with eBay, and why Andie could never have ended up with Duckie
  • Provincetown Film Festival
    Jane Lynch, Alan Ball, and John Waters descend on the Cape. Will Henderson gives us the queer highlights from this year's festival.
  • Hair Apparent
    Jaclyn Smith on the success Bravo’s Shear Genius, her Angel years and the quest to gain more inner strength
  • Katy Perry Isn't One of the Boys
    With a number 1 single just around the corner and Madonna among her fan base, Katy Perry's two gay songs have made her a pop sensation.
  • The Gay Goodfellas
    Inside the Gill Action Fund, the most effective pro-gay political weapon you never heard of.
  • Obama And One-Man, One-Woman Marriage
    Sen. Obama reminded us this week that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman, something LGBT people might have easily forgotten over the course of the primary.
  • The Whole World Is Watching
    The media spotlight turned to California last week as the first marriages were performed. Although for the most part it was a rare glimpse at the human angle of our battle, sometimes their silence spoke louder than words
  • The Godfather of Electro-pop
    Former Depeche Mode and Erasure member Vince Clarke reunites with bandmate Alison Moyet this summer for a Yaz reunion tour. The straight man to some pretty gay acts tells us why he stopped singing, what broke Yazoo up, and why the future of electro-pop music may be monkey brains
  • It's The Economy, Stupid
    California's non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office is studying the economic impact of a state ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriages. Will the findings sway voters in the fall?