As Supreme Court Preps Ruling on LGBTQ Rights & Adoption, Same-Sex Parents Speak Out for Equal Justice
FOR PLANNING PURPOSES
May 27, 2021
MEDIA CONTACTS
Austin Schuler, aschuler@faithinpubliclife.org, (540) 280-3393
John Gehring, jgehring@faithinpubliclife.org, (410) 302-3792
As Supreme Court Preps Ruling on LGBTQ Rights & Adoption, Same-Sex Parents Speak Out for Equal Justice
Allies declare religious liberty must not be a policy to discriminate
Washington, D.C.—On Thursday, May 27 at 11 a.m. ET, LGBTQ parents and a legal scholar will discuss a major Supreme Court case, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, that could allow a Catholic social services agency to receive public funding while discriminating against same-sex couples who want to foster children.
WHAT: The panel event, LGBTQ Parents, Adoption & the Battle over Religious Liberty, is organized by Faith in Public Life and will be moderated by Catholic Program Director John Gehring. The conversation will feature the following speakers.
WHO: Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of DignityUSA
Leslie Griffin, Law professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
John Gehring, Catholic Program Director at Faith in Public Life
John Freml, Father of 5-year-old Riley and 7-year-old Jordan
WHEN: Thursday, May 27 at 11 a.m. ET
WHERE: Register here to watch the event live.
“It was devastating when a Catholic agency refused to even return our calls when we began the adoption process,” said panelist Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of DignityUSA, a national advocacy organization for LGBTQ Catholics. “As a proud Catholic, I was shaken to the core. Being a parent has been the joy of my life and deepened my faith. Religious liberty should never be used as a policy to discriminate and deny LGBTQ families equal rights and dignity.”
“LGBTQ families are no different from other families,” said John Freml, the father of a 5-year-old son, Riley, and a 7-year-old daughter, Jordan. “We have the same desire to connect and to love. It’s heartbreaking and unjust to watch faith-based agencies refuse to place children with families like mine, especially given the large numbers of children who need loving homes. My prayer is that the Supreme Court will recognize that any agency that discriminates against same-sex couples has no right to taxpayer funding.”
Panelist Leslie Griffin, a law professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Supreme Court case, will speak about how the upcoming ruling could impact the legal landscape for LGBTQ rights.
“In oral arguments, the Justices asked a number of questions about racial discrimination and how it compares to sexual orientation discrimination,” Griffin said. “They were puzzled about how to write about that question in their opinion. If the Justices find that there is a First Amendment right to violate anti-discrimination laws, it will significantly restrict the freedom of LGBTQ people in numerous religious institutions – schools, hospitals, nursing homes – and in doing business with the government.”
“Catholic and other faith-based agencies provide vital social services in this country, but public funding should not be used to discriminate,” said John Gehring, Catholic Program Director at Faith in Public Life. “We can honor the principle of religious liberty and respect the dignity of LGBTQ families without pitting those values against each other.”
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Faith in Public Life is a national movement of clergy and faith leaders united in the prophetic pursuit of justice, equality and the common good. Together, with a network of over 50,000 leaders, they are leading the fight to advance just policies at the state and federal level that affirms our values and the human dignity of all.