As we wait for the outcome of the presidential election our LGBTQ families are once again being attacked by the radical religious right arm of the Catholic Church as Fulton v. City of Philadelphia goes before the Supreme Court this morning for oral arguments.
The case could give taxpayer funded agencies a broad license to discriminate when providing social services to someone who is LGBTQ, holds different religious beliefs, has been previously divorced or otherwise contradicts what they say their agency believes. This is all happening even though Pope Francis recently stated, “LGBTQ people should be able to create families.” Kierra Johnson, Deputy Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force stated, "With Pope Francis in agreement that the Catholic faith should not prevent LGBTQ people from building families, it is clear to us that this is not about religious beliefs at all but a push to nullify civil rights protections for all of us." Fulton v. City of Philadelphia involves same gender couples & foster care service. If the new Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court rules in favor of Catholic Social Services it could give taxpayer-funded service agencies a legal right to discriminate against any group of people solely based on religious beliefs. This includes services like foster care, food banks, homeless shelters, disaster relief services & many other services that will impact communities of minority faiths, LGBTQ communities, unmarried couples & many other people currently protected by our nation's patchwork of civil rights laws. If we lose this case the consequences will be beyond our LGBTQ community but for everyone.
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