The U.S. Supreme Court, on June 17, said that Philadelphia violated the First Amendment when it froze the contract of a Catholic foster-care agency that refused to work with same-sex couples as potential foster parents because the agency believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
The court's ruling in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia was unanimous.
The dispute arose because religious nonprofit organization Catholic Social Services—which was receiving taxpayer funds—was unwilling to work with LGBTQ couples as foster parents out of religious objections to same-sex marriage, CNN.com reported.
The issue before the court was if Philadelphia could require foster agencies to comply with its non-discrimination law. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion for six of the nine justices; justices Thomas, Alito and Neil Gorsuch joined in the result, but did not join the majority's rationale.
Pro-LGBTQ organizations conveyed their disappointment with the court's decision.
"Today, the well-being of our country's most vulnerable children has been sacrificed to preserve tax-payer funded discrimination for a powerful group of religious institutions," said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of pro-LGBTQ Catholic organization DignityUSA. Duddy-Burke and her female spouse are also foster and adoptive parents. "The Supreme Court just decreased the number of homes available to our youth in foster care, making what was already a crisis worse. Same-sex couples are seven times more likely than straight couples to adopt or be foster parents and are more likely to have trans-racial families. This ruling means tens of thousands of children may never have a family to love and support them."
New Ways Ministry Executive Director Francis DeBernardo said in a separate statement, "The Catholic hierarchy may think that they have achieved a stunning victory in the Fulton vs. the City of Philadelphia decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, but in fact it is a crushing defeat for the Catholic values of equality, respect, and human dignity of all people, including LGBTQ people. The decision is also a defeat for Catholic values of stable family life and the promotion of the common good."
"Though today's decision is not a complete victory, it does not negate the fact that every qualified family is valid and worthy—children deserve a loving, caring, committed home," said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Alphonso David. "We celebrate the LGBTQ families who are dedicated to providing homes to the thousands of children in the child welfare system. Yet we know there is more work that must be done to ensure that the best interest of the child is always prioritized, including through family reunification. And there is more work to be done to ensure that LGBTQ people do not face discrimination anywhere in the country in every aspect of public life—our next step is to pass the Equality Act."
However, HRC added that "Fulton v. City of Philadelphia evaluated whether foster care agencies that receive government funds could violate city law and discriminate against prospective parents based on the agency's religious beliefs. The case could have had a sweeping, harmful impact in the provision of child welfare services by enabling discrimination against LGBTQ people, same-sex couples, interfaith couples, single parents, married couples in which one prospective parent has previously been divorced, or other qualified parents to whom an agency has an objection. The Supreme Court determined that enforcing nondiscrimination laws is not in conflict with the First Amendment, but determined that the city of Philadelphia was not neutral in applying its nondiscrimination provisions."
