A Catholic adoption agency has lost its appeal to the Charity Commission over its policy of excluding gay couples.
The Commission said last week it is withholding consent to the charity Catholic Care to amend its charitable objects to discriminate against prospective adopters if they are in a same-sex relationship.
The decision follows a high court judgment in March, which found the essentially public nature of adoption services meant respect for religious views could not be a justification for discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation. However, the court allowed the charity to appeal against the Commission’s decision and set out principles by which the Commission should consider Catholic Care’s case. These principles included the need to justify the discrimination within Art 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, under which there needs to be “particularly convincing and weighty reasons” to justify any discrimination.
Catholic Care, which has been providing adoption services for more than 100 years, had argued that it would lose its funding from the Roman Catholic Church if it did not discriminate.
However, the Commission concluded that the evidence did not provide sufficiently “convincing and weighty reasons” to justify the charity’s discrimination. This was because:
• it is in the interests of the children involved that the pool from which prospective parents are drawn be as wide as possible;
• discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation is a serious matter because it departs from the principle of treating people equally;
• local authority evidence suggested that even if the charity were to close its adoption service, children would be placed through other channels; and
• local authority evidence suggested that gay and lesbian people were suitable prospective parents for hard to place children, and that such adoptions have been successful.
Andrew Hind, the Commission’s chief executive, says: “Clearly the interests of children are paramount.
“In certain circumstances, it is not against the law for charities to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation. However, because the prohibition on such discrimination is a fundamental principle of human rights law, such discrimination can only be permitted in the most compelling circumstances.”
A spokesperson for Catholic Care says: “The charity is very disappointed with the outcome.
“Catholic Care will now consider whether there is any other way in which the charity can continue to support families seeking to adopt children in need.
“In any event, Catholic Care will seek to register as an adoption support agency offering a service to those who were adopted in the past and are now seeking information about their background, and also to support adoptive parents already approved by Catholic Care.”
