See earlier reports here, and also here.
Third Sector Online reports that Catholic Care’s exclusion of same-sex couples ‘unjustified’, charity tribunal hears.
The Charity Commission has defended its decision not to allow the charity Catholic Care to prevent gay people from using its adoption service, at a charity tribunal hearing.
During the hearing, which finished on Friday, the commission argued it would be a “serious and demeaning act of discrimination” for the charity to restrict its adoption services to heterosexual, married couples.
The charity appealed to the tribunal to quash the commission’s ruling, made in August last year, that it could not change its objects to prevent same-sex couples from using its adoption service. Catholic Care argued that failing to change its objects would force it to close its adoption service because it would lose its funding from the Catholic church.
The commission’s barrister, Emma Dixon, said at the hearing: “The exclusion of same-sex couples is a particularly serious and indeed a demeaning act of discrimination. Weighty reasons would be needed to justify discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.”
… Alison McKenna, principal judge of the charity tribunal, said it would make its decision in about a month.
‘Here we go, here we go, here we go !’
Do I have deja vu ?
“Catholic Care argued that failing to change its objects would force it to close its adoption service because it would lose its funding from the Catholic church.”
So much for ‘CHARITY’ vis a vis ‘Catholic Care’.
The church seems to have boundless energy to fight for the ability to discriminate against others in the civil sector. Catholics in England must have short memories of what it was like.