I will never understand people that would rather children be held in deplorable conditions than to live with a loving gay couple...
Lesbian Couple Barred From Fostering Migrant Kids
A taxpayer-funded child-welfare group told a lesbian couple who sought to provide a home for migrant kids that they didn’t qualify—because they don’t ‘mirror the Holy Family.’
Scott Bixby
National Reporter
Updated 06.20.19 10:12AM ET
Bryn Esplin and Fatma Marouf knew early into their marriage that they wanted a family. But when early attempts with in vitro fertilization were unsuccessful, the couple started exploring serving as foster parents, opening their home to child refugees held in increasingly draconian conditions by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“We were really open in terms of taking in a sibling set, in terms of age of the child—we didn’t really have any specific thing we were looking for,” Marouf told The Daily Beast. “We just felt like we could provide a good home, and there were hundreds of kids needing it in this area, so it just seemed like something we could do.”
When they approached a local child-welfare organization contracted by the federal government to help find homes for some of the thousands of migrant and refugee children in the department’s care, however, Esplin and Marouf
were told that they didn’t qualify—not because they couldn’t provide a loving home for a child fleeing oppression abroad, but because, as a same-sex couple, their lifestyle doesn’t “mirror the Holy Family.”
Now, fresh off an early legal victory against HHS and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), plaintiffs Esplin and Marouf hope that their case may help remove bureaucratic barriers to full equality for LGBT families, and for vulnerable children in need of a home.
“Even though this case is about sexual orientation, it certainly raises questions,” Marouf said. “Would we really allow the government to contract with an organization, say, that refuses to place children with African-American couples or Hispanic couples? I think that most people would think that shouldn’t be allowed.”
Esplin, a Utah native, and Marouf, born in California to parents who emigrated from Egypt and Turkey, met five years ago, and married after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that struck down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage. Shortly after moving to Fort Worth, Texas, where they are professors at Texas A&M University, they decided to start a family.
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Late last week, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta denied a motion by HHS and USCCB to dismiss the suit. In a memorandum, Mehta declared that Esplin and Marouf have standing to sue on due process, equal protection, and First Amendment grounds, a major procedural victory—and added that HHS’ attempt to absolve itself of responsibility for USCCB’s anti-gay policy was “an astonishing outcome.”
“Surely, the government would not take this position if, say, Plaintiffs here were excluded from fostering a child based on their gender... national origin... or religious faith,” Mehta wrote. “The Federal Defendants wish to avoid the responsibility that comes with being good stewards of federal funds. They cannot do so.”
The memorandum punctures a hole in a common defense for discrimination by government partners—namely, that because the government agency in question didn’t discriminate itself, it can’t be held responsible for taxpayer-funded organizations that do.
“The court stated that the federal government is responsible for—and can be held liable—when its grantees are determining participation in a program and are excluding people based on religious beliefs,” Gliksberg said. “People have a right to participate in a federal program without any stigma applied to them as a barrier to their participation. There needs to be equal access to federal programs, regardless of who you are, and certainly not on the basis of sexual orientation, as was done here.”
more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/lesbian-couple-barred-from-fostering-child-refugees?ref=scroll
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