TheProgressivePatriot
Platinum Member
There is something rotten in Texas. There are Children in need of homes and these women are ready, willing and able to prove one, but are not being allowed to do so. They wanted care for an older children who are hard to place. In addition, of the women is an attorney with an expertise in immigration rights. .
PLEASE read to the end and if you choose to participate in the poll, please include an explanation for your answer
Lesbian couple sues feds for thwarting their chance to foster refugee children
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/23/health/lesbian-couple-sues-hhs/index.html
However...
Let’s that sink in? To be worthy and competent parents you have to “mirror the holy family”. What is a family? Who decides? How many families that do not “mirror the holy family” and have children and are even allowed to adopt them? And, taxpayers take note, Catholic Charities accepts federal funding! And lets not forget the First Amendment, the part about “ Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion” They are also suing under the
What drives this case ?
Here is more on Lambda Legal: Lambda Legal Sues HHS after Lesbian Couple Blocked from Serving as Foster Parents
Let’s keep this about the Constitution, the law, government funding and refugee children as opposed to Homosexuality and parenting. There has been far too much of that and it always turns into a shit storm
PLEASE read to the end and if you choose to participate in the poll, please include an explanation for your answer
Lesbian couple sues feds for thwarting their chance to foster refugee children
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/23/health/lesbian-couple-sues-hhs/index.html
- A married lesbian couple from Texas is suing the federal government
- They say an agency, funded by taxpayers, prevented them from fostering refugee children
- Millions of dollars in federal grant money goes to Catholic organization that discriminates, lawyer says
Three years ago, as they wore long gowns and exchanged vows surrounded by people who love them, Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin imagined a growing family. But like so many couples who dream of having children, they keep hitting roadblocks.
They tried IVF treatments and had no luck. They would have liked to adopt domestically, but state-funded agencies in Texas, where they live, are free to exclude same-sex couples. They say they can't afford the tens of thousands of dollars it takes to adopt privately.
So early last year, they turned their attention to the idea of fostering refugee children. They were sure they had found their answer. They didn't get far, though, before they were proved wrong.
However...
During an informational phone call with the organization in charge, Catholic Charities of Fort Worth, they say, they were told that same-sex couples are ineligible to apply because they don't "mirror the Holy Family."
Let’s that sink in? To be worthy and competent parents you have to “mirror the holy family”. What is a family? Who decides? How many families that do not “mirror the holy family” and have children and are even allowed to adopt them? And, taxpayers take note, Catholic Charities accepts federal funding! And lets not forget the First Amendment, the part about “ Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion” They are also suing under the
Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the U.S Constitution by allowing USCCB to impose a religious test governing the provision of federal child welfare services.
What drives this case ?
At the heart of their legal complaint is the financial story behind Catholic Charities of Fort Worth. It is the only organization the couple and their lawyers know of in their area that places refugee children in homes, and it is supported by taxpayers. Its child welfare work is funded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (known as USCCB), the plaintiffs' lawyer explains, which receives millions of dollars in grant money to help two federal government programs: one for unaccompanied refugee minors and the other for unaccompanied alien children. All that grant money is distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services through the Office of Refugee Resettlement -- which is why various government entities, including HHS, are named in the lawsuit along with the overarching Catholic organization, USCCB.
Using Catholic doctrine to dictate foster parent eligibility violates constitutional protections, said Jamie Gliksberg, a Lambda Legal staff attorney who is working on their case.
Here is more on Lambda Legal: Lambda Legal Sues HHS after Lesbian Couple Blocked from Serving as Foster Parents
Lambda Legal today filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on behalf of a couple who were denied the opportunity even to apply to serve as foster parents for refugee children by a USCCB affiliate because, they were told, they did not “mirror the Holy Family.”
HHS funds the program that turned away Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin, a married same-sex couple, exclusively with taxpayer money. HHS funded USCCB to perform federal child welfare services through its affiliates even though USCCB made clear that it would use the funds to deny such services to members of the public based on USCCB’s religious beliefs.
Being denied the opportunity to foster a child because we don’t “mirror the Holy Family’ – clearly code for being a same-sex couple – was hurtful and insulting to us. More than that, though, insisting on such a narrow, religious view of what a family must look like deprives these children of a nurturing, supportive home," said Esplin.
“Refugee children have been through enough trauma to last a lifetime," Marouf said. "They need love, stability, and support, which Bryn and I have in abundance. But in discriminating against us, the agency put their religious views of LGBT people above what is best for the kids in their care.”
“The federal government was on notice when it funded USCCB that this organization refuses to provide services to same-sex spouses at taxpayer expense,” Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Kenneth D. Upton said. “Our government should not be favoring certain religious beliefs over others—to the tune of millions of dollars—and turning people away from government services based on their failure to conform to the dictates of a particular religious belief."
Let’s keep this about the Constitution, the law, government funding and refugee children as opposed to Homosexuality and parenting. There has been far too much of that and it always turns into a shit storm
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