Catholic Church Gives D.C. an Ultimatum

The Catholic archdiocese of Washington, D.C., has issued an ultimatum: It will end its social services program if the district doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law.

The social services program provides health care, adoption services, and shelter to the homeless for tens of thousands of people in the D.C. area. But the new bill would prohibit religious organizations from discriminating against gays and lesbians.

The story is similar to what happened in Massachusetts in 2006. There, Catholic Charities of Boston ended its adoption services after a state law was passed allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children.

"If the city requires this, we can't do it," Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese of Washington, said Wednesday. "The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that's really a problem."

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