Catholic adoptions and Gay couples...

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In Great Britain and the United States (in Massachusetts, specifically), the issue has come up of whether religious adoptive agencies should be forced to adopt to gay couples. For many those who believe that those who are against gay adoptions are only against it because of prejudice, this seems to be a non-question. However, is there a religious freedom question also at play? In addition, Catholic adoption agencies (which have received wide praise as being far superior to government agencies) have said flat out they may stop offering their services for religious reasons should these requirements be put in effect and no exceptions granted. Even if one supports such requirements, is it for the greater good of society (specifically the children that would be effected, and families wanting to adopt), if these services simply ceased to exist in the name of equality?

For me, it's a no brainer. But I believe a mother-father two-parent household to be the ideal.

To draw it another way however, during the 1980s Mother Teresa's organization desired to open a shelter in New York City. However they did not include a plan for an elevator due to the fact they avoid modern technology as a sacrifice. The New York City building code requires a elevator on all builders that fall under that type of type. MT's org. requested a deferral. The city of New York refused. Again, what good is accomplished?

There are multiple issues represented by your question:

1) How superior is the catholic adoption agency vs the government?

2) How significant is a loss in parents because of their bias and what negative impact could that have on children?

3) How significant is the loss by homosexuals who want to be parents due to discrimination by the churches?

Your point is perfectly valid if one says that 1 is high and 2 is low as you claim. However, your opponents are going to bring up 3 and claim that such will be high or unjust and claim that your stance on 2 is not valid claiming that homosexual parents will be good parents. They might even claim that 1 is not necessarily as true as you'd claim. At least, that is what I foresee in this debate.

EDIT: they receive some public funding so I think they have no right to deny gay couples the right to adopt.

To be fair:

against the exemption (link to "The Gay Parenting Show"))

for the exception (link to "torbay today")

(edit: missing links fixed)

The birth mother needs to have say. Obviously if a birth mother is looking at a Catholic agency to place her child, then I'm assuming she wants a traditional Catholic Family to adopt her child. My sister wanted a mother and a father for her baby when she gave her up years ago. She had a say in the family she wanted, she had that right. If a Muslim agency denied gay couples and they would, would anyone question them????????

Criticism of the idea of an exemption from Steven Pollard:

Churches get tax money? Can anybody point me in the direction of some examples of such? I'm not denying it happens, but I've never heard of it.

Catholics are the only minority that don't get the privileges of the title. I don't know why we pick and choose who can be discriminate and who can't.

I would rather put a child in the hands of patient, intelligent, caring, hardworking, atheist, gay couple then with a straight couple who's only "positive" is that they are upstanding catholics.

Anything that you can claim gays do that make them bad parents, I can give you billions of examples of straight people comitting the same acts, child abuse, promiscuss sexual praticess, neglect, whatever.

But forget all the commonsense, logical reasoning. Instead lets look at how things are acually done in america. Now if I run any other kind of organization, be it a resteraunt, hospital, or dog kennel, I can't discriminate my clients or employees based on race, religion, or sexual preference even if I receive no government money or tax breaks. Why should an organization be considered different, just because they say they work for god?

We've seen what special priviliges do, it just leads to sexual predators being quietly shuffled around instead of going to jail. The whole religious industry, and the chatholic church in peticular, has had special treatment for to long. Just because a person thinks a lady can have a baby without sperm entering an egg or can't fathom the idea that jesus might have had a wife like all normal people doesn't make them better then anyone else in the world.

We need to stop giving them special priveliges. If they adopt out children they should have to use the same criteria as any none religious place.

Homophobia needs to be hunted down and stopped out just like racism. There is plenty of evil in this world for people to hate and no need to make up reasons.

Send them back to Rome! Boo! The Vatican is a rogue state, and everyone knows it! Setting that aside, however, discrimination is always wrong, whether it's on the basis of religion, sex, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Adoption agencies, especially, should be expected to have a moral compass. If they don't, they shouldn't be in business.