Gay marriage, civil rights, and freedom of conscience

Gay marriage, civil rights, and freedom of conscience

As I’ve been saying for some time, the fight over the ability for Boston Catholic Charities to perform adoptions is one of religious liberty. Likewise, gay activists see it as a matter of civil rights. Maggie Gallagher looks at both sides of the issue.

The question in Boston is not whether gays are going to be allowed legally to adopt. It is whether religious people who morally object to gay adoption will be allowed to help children find homes. ... It is a crime to run an adoption agency in Massachusetts without a license from the state. To get a license you have to agree to place children with same-sex couples. For the first time in America, Christians are being told by their government that they are not good citizens, not worthy enough to be permitted to help abandoned babies find good homes.

Actually, Christians—more specifically Catholics—have been discriminated against before by their government. One need only look at the Know Nothing era and the laws passed by them that are still on the books. In Massachusetts, one of those laws forbids any state money from going to Catholic schools, effectively killing any chance at school choice and tuition vouchers. Nevertheless, this is a type of sanctioned discrimination against Christians. It’s funny that gay activists say that this is about their civil rights, but they don’t mind trampling ours. And ours are actually enshrined in the Constitution. The Constitution says nothing about the “right” to be gay.

Not a liberal agenda, but civil rights

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