Catholic adoption society wins ruling on gay parents

Catholic Care, which serves the dioceses of Leeds, Middlesbrough, and Hallam in South Yorkshire, launched the legal action saying it would have to give up its work finding homes for children if it has to comply with the legislation.

It sought an exemption under the Sexual Orientation Regulations to allow it to continue to operate as it had always done.

Its plea to be allowed an exemption was opposed by the Charity Commission.

Today Mr Justice Briggs, sitting in London, allowed Catholic Care's appeal and ordered the commission to reconsider the case in the light of the principles set out in his judgment.

Later the Rt Rev Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds, welcomed the judge's decision, saying it would "help in our determination to continue to provide this invaluable service to benefit children, families and communities".

He said the judgment confirmed that Catholic Care was correct in its reading of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 and that the exemption could apply "to any charity subject to it being in the public interest".

The bishop said: "We look forward to producing evidence to the Charity Commission to support the position that we have consistently taken through this process: that without being able to use this exemption, children without families would be seriously disadvantaged.

"Catholic Care has been providing specialist adoption services for over 100 years.

"We have helped hundreds of children through the recruitment, assessment, training and support for prospective adoptive parents as well as offering ongoing and post-adoption support to families that give such security and love for some of the most vulnerable children in our society.

"The judgment today will help in our determination to continue to provide this invaluable service to benefit children, families and communities."

Catholic Care is the last of the Catholic adoption agencies to continue its fight against the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs).

The Catholic agencies were given a 21-month transition period to adjust to the new regulations and by January last year, five of its agencies had cut formal ties with the Church to comply with the rules.

The Catholic Children's Society, Westminster, has decided to end work with new adoption and Father Hudson's Society, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, announced it was "demerging" its adoption recruitment and assessment into a separate charity after an unsuccessful appeal to the Charity Commission.

Jonathan Finney, head of external affairs at Stonewall, the gay rights charity, said: "It's unthinkable that anyone engaged in delivering any kind of public or publicly funded service should be given licence to pick and choose service users on the basis of individual prejudice.

"It's clearly in the best interests of children in care to encourage as wide a pool of potential adopters as possible.

"All religious adoption agencies receive funding or subsidy in some form from the public purse.

"There should be no question of discriminatory behaviour by any organisation that benefits from the taxpayer."

A statement from Caritas Social Action Network, the umbrella network for Catholic care agencies, said: "By requiring the Charity Commission to review its decision, the court has upheld the legitimate freedom of charities to organise themselves in such a way that their activities reflect their religious ethos when justified in the public benefit, as we believe is the case in this instance.

"In the context of co-operation between faith-based charities and public authorities in future this is an extremely important principle to uphold within the ambit of the common good of society, and subject to the proper principle of proportionality."

The Bishop of Leeds said outside court: "Our case has not been brought on an anti-gay agenda of any sort.

"We respect, and would not want to diminish, the human dignity of any person."

The Charity Commission was ordered by the judge to pay the legal costs of Catholic Care (Diocese of Leeds).

The costs are unofficially estimated at more than 100,000. Lawyers acting for the adoption agency - London-based solicitors firm Bircham Dyson Bell and barristers Christopher McCall QC and Matthew Smith - worked pro bono to the tune of a further 55,000.

Terry Sanderston, president of the National Secular Society, said: "This is an alarming decision and the first major setback for the protection of gay people from discrimination by religious groups.

"It is unfortunate that the court has enabled Catholic Care to exploit what was obviously an error in the drafting of the equality legislation. The loophole this created was never intended to be used this way.

"If the Charity Commission reverses its previous decision - as the court is asking it to - we can look forward to a tidal wave of similar challenges from bigoted Catholic organisations who are determined not to accord any rights to gay people at all."

The British Humanist Association (BHA) expressed its "dismay" at the decision.

"We entirely support the Charity Commission in seeking to secure rights for lesbian and gay people in accordance with what our national parliament has decided and what public opinion supports," a BHA statement said.

"It is immoral for adoption services to consider anything other than the needs and rights of children and placing them with the families that will provide the most loving, stable and appropriate environment for their development and well-being.

"To allow religious dogma and prejudices to interfere in the just provision of these services fails children, as well as lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

"This is a bad judicial decision in obvious contradiction to Government policy and the decision of Parliament."

A spokesperson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which intervened and was represented in court, said: "We welcome the decision of the High Court to give prominence to the human rights aspects of this case.

"A charity is defined as a body which provides a public benefit.

"It cannot be in the public benefit for a charity to discriminate in a way that breaches human rights.

"We are pleased that the court accepted this argument.

"The judgment will have wide significance in reminding charities that they must comply with human rights principles in order to retain their charitable status and we look forward to the Charity Commission's re-examination of the case in light of the High Court ruling."

The Charity Commission said it had noted the judgment.

A spokeswoman said: "The High Court has overturned the tribunal's decision and has remitted the case to the commission to decide whether Catholic Care should be permitted to adopt the proposed objects."