CHICAGOLongtime gay-rights advocate Rick Garcia is blasting the Illinois Catholic Conference for its continued attempt to undermine the Illinois civil-union bill.
"The Illinois Catholic Conference claims religious convictions prohibit Catholic Charities from placing children with same-sex couples," said Garcia. "Frankly, Catholic Charities has placed children with gay couples for years. This argument is a ruse to cover the real reasons for the Conference's oppositionanti-gay sentiment and fear of lawsuits."
Garcia noted that the real issue is in the conference's statement. "The conference is not concerned about children who need loving homes," Garcia charged. "It is concerned that there will be lawsuits and that the state may cancel their millions of dollars in contracts."
"Too bad the pedophile-protecting prelates and their attorneys were not as concerned about the children victims of priests' sexual abusers or the huge legal costs that continue to pile up," said Garcia. "Using vulnerable children to promote the Conference's bigotry is vile. But, they have a long and rich history of such abuse and vileness."
"If they do not want to let gay couples adopt or be foster parents, fine. Let them do it on their own dime and not on millions of dollars of Illinois taxpayers," Garcia suggested.
Garcia, a practicing Roman Catholic, was the founder of Equality Illinois and has been a gay civil rights activist for more than 30 years and worked on pro-gay legislation statewide and in 15 downstate communities.
The Civil Rights Agenda Responds to Catholic Charities
Adoptions Services Should be Provided to LGBT Couples
May 4, 2011 • Springfield, IL - The Civil Rights Agenda ( TCRA ) , an Illinois statewide Civil Rights advocacy organization, was instrumental in helping to defeat SB 1123 in the last vote taken in the Executive Committee. The Catholic Charities held a press conference today regarding adoptions and foster services for couples in a Civil Union, and advocated passage of SB1123.
"It is completely unthinkable that the Catholic Charities would deny a home to a child simply because the couple is same-sex," stated Anthony Martinez, Executive Director of The Civil Rights Agenda. "If an organization receives state funding, they must serve all residents of that state equally. I don't want my tax dollars to fund discrimination in any form, and that is exactly what the Catholic Charities are asking for; the right to discriminate."
"The Civil Rights Agenda will continue to fight all efforts to pass this legislation," said Lowell Jaffe, Political Director of The Civil Rights Agenda "The majority of legislators have made it clear that they will not support discrimination in any form. We are prepared for assaults of any kind on the Civil Union bill and any efforts to write discrimination into Illinois law, and we will use any and every weapon in our arsenal against this specific initiative."