Yes to gay marriage means no social services, Catholic Church warns

By Jennifer Vanasco, editor in chief, 365gay.com
11.12.2009 1:31pm EST

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is threatening the district with suspending their social services programs if the city doesn’t change a proposed equal marriage law, the Washington Post reports.

The bill requires religious organizations to obey city laws forbidding discrimination against gay men and lesbians, though they would not have to perform or make space available to gay weddings.

Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.
“If the city requires this, we can’t do it,” Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Wednesday. “The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that’s really a problem.”
Several D.C. Council members said the Catholic Church is trying to erode the city’s long-standing laws protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination.

Catholic Charities serves 68,000 people in Washington DC, including one-third of the city’s homeless.

Source : Yes to gay marriage means no social services, Catholic Church warns