Massachusetts governor moves to exempt church from antidiscrimination law

A bill introduced by Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney that would exempt religious social service agencies from being required to place some adoptive children in gay households is being denounced by gay rights activists. The bill, filed in the Massachusetts legislature Wednesday, would exempt Catholic Charities, the social service arm of the Catholic archdiocese of Boston, from a state antidiscrimination law that makes it illegal to disqualify prospective adoptive parents based on their sexual orientation.

Catholic Charities has been arranging adoptions for about a century and has placed 13 children in same-sex couples' homes in the past 20 years. Last week, however, the agency said it would end its entire adoption program because state laws forbidding discrimination against gay couples run counter to church teachings on homosexuality.

Arline Isaacson, the cochair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, called Romney's proposal reprehensible. "These kids need loving and nurturing homes, and if the best match for them is a gay family, they should be allowed to have that," she said. "When you start exempting from discrimination laws in one category, someone can come around and ask for it in another and another and another. Ultimately the kids are the losers."

The Act Protecting Religious Freedom bill also faces a tough road in the legislature. House speaker Salvatore DiMasi and senate president Robert Travaglini, both Democrats, have said they would oppose the Republican governor's efforts.

Romney said the exemption would not allow discrimination based on race, national origin, gender, or handicap. The governor, a potential candidate for president in 2008, said he is concerned that the legal requirement that gays be given equal consideration as prospective adoptive parents violates Catholic Charities' religious beliefs.

"It is a matter beyond dispute and a prerequisite to the preservation of liberty that government not dictate to religious institutions the moral principles by which they are to carry out their charitable and divine mission," Romney said in a letter to house and senate leaders. He said Catholic Charities' withdrawal from providing adoption services creates a void in the child welfare system.

Romney has argued that exempting religious organizations from nondiscrimination rules would not inhibit gay couples from adopting because other agencies can meet their needs. Most adoptive children in Massachusetts are placed by the Department of Social Services.

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, a fellow Republican hoping to succeed Romney as governor, recently said she disagrees with the governor's position. (AP)

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