Anti-gay couple suing the government after being denied the right to adopt
By Joshua Haigh
A straight couple are suing after they were denied the chance to adopt a child.
The Christian couple, from Alberta, Canada are taking the government to court in order the challenge a decision to deny them the chance to adopt a child due to their anti-gay beliefs.
The couple’s hope was to adopt a child, or up to three siblings between the ages of seven and 17. However, after a case worker advised they not be given a “homosexual child” due to their views, family services decided to halt their application altogether.
“I was angry at the injustice of the situation,” said the couple.
“Despite our stability, our kindness, our dedication to helping people, despite our willingness to take a child in who needed parents, and consider him or her our own for the rest of our lives, we were being discriminated against based on our religious beliefs.”
John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre, said that “making determinations about who is suitable to adopt on the basis of their sincere religious beliefs violates this couple’s right to religious freedom and equality under the law as guaranteed in the [Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms] and in Alberta’s own Bill of Rights and Human Rights Act.”
He added that if not successfully challenged, “this decision would have grave consequences for the freedoms of all Canadians, not to mention adverse consequences for the many children who will never be adopted if the government continues with this discrimination.”
Discrimination? What, do they mean like holding anti-gay views? Oh, the irony.