Charity wins gay adoption case

Catholic Care, which serves the dioceses of Leeds, Middlesbrough and Hallam, launched the legal action saying it would have to give up its work finding homes for children if it had to comply with legislation requiring it to allow gay couples to adopt children.

The charity sought an exemption under the Sexual Orientation Regulations to allow it to continue to operate as it had always done – using a loophole in the Act that was designed to protect gay couples.

Regulation 18 of the 2007 Equality Act was drawn up to prevent gay charities being sued for discriminating against heterosexual couples and allows charities to continue to refuse gay couples if the stated aim of the charity was to provide services to people of a particular sexual orientation.

Mr Justice Briggs allowed Catholic Care's appeal and ordered the Charity Commission, which opposed the move, to reconsider the case in the light of the principles set out in his judgment.

He said the judgment confirmed that Catholic Care was correct in its reading of the Act and added that it could apply "to any charity subject to it being in the public interest".

Speaking following the verdict the Rt Rev Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds, said the decision will "help in our determination to continue to provide this invaluable service to benefit children, families and communities".

He 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."

However yesterday's court ruling has provoked disquiet from secular and gay rights activists.

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."

The British Humanist Association expressed its "dismay" at the decision while Terry Sanderston, president of the National Secular Society, called the move "the first major setback for the protection of gay people from discrimination by religious groups".

However the Bishop of Leeds denied the charity had brought the case for reasons of prejudice against same-sex couples.

"Our case has not been brought on an anti-gay agenda of any sort," he said.

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

A spokeswoman for the Charities Commission 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."