Anti-LGBTQ+ couple cries religious discrimination after their foster parent application was denied

A Catholic couple is suing after their foster parent application was denied due to their anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs.

The lawsuit was filed by Michael and Catherine Burke against the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF). It states that DCF wrote that the couple was denied because they “would not be affirming to a child who identified as LGBTQIA.”

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The state’s Foster Child Bill of Rights declares that all foster children “shall be treated with respect by DCF staff, foster parents and providers without regard to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and/or disability.”

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But the suit defends their anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs, arguing they should not exclude them from fostering children.

“As faithful Catholics, the Burkes believe that all children should be loved and supported, and they would never reject a child placed in their home,” the complaint states. “They also believe that children should not undergo procedures that attempt to change their God-given sex, and they uphold Catholic beliefs about marriage and sexuality.”

It called their beliefs “decent and honorable” and accused DCF of religious discrimination, saying that requiring families to be LGBTQ+ affirming effectively bars all Catholics from fostering. It quoted the author of the couple’s license study, who wrote that the Burkes are “lovely people” but “their faith is not supportive and neither are they.”

The Burkes are represented by the anti-LGBTQ+ Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. In a statement on Becket’s website, the couple said they were “absolutely devastated to learn that Massachusetts would rather children sleep in the hallways of hospitals than let us welcome children in need into our home.”  

“It takes the heroic effort of parents like Mike and Kitty to provide vulnerable children with loving homes through foster care,” added Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “Massachusetts’ actions leave the Burkes, and families of other faiths, out in the cold. How can they explain this to children waiting for a home?”  

A similar lawsuit was filed in April by Jessica Bates, a Christian, who sued the state of Oregon for denying her application to foster and adopt children after she said she would not affirm any LGBTQ+ kids placed in her home. It called DHS’s acceptance policy “an ideological litmus test” that only allows people with “correct” views to adopt.

The suit was filed on behalf of Bates by the virulently anti-LGBTQ+ organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group.