A federal judge has ruled that a Catholic social services group in Philadelphia must provide home assessments for same-sex couples who want to offer foster care for at-risk kids.
The decision by Philadelphia District Court Judge Petrese Tucker came after the archdiocesan Catholic Social Services (CSS) argued that doing so would mean the church approved of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual relationships, CatholicPhilly.com reports.
The judge, in a 64-page decision did not buy the claim of religious discrimination.
CSS director James Amato had testified that his agency’s long-standing practice was essentially to sidestep the issue of a Catholic agency potentially certifying a home led by a same-sex couple by passing on the task to one of 28 other secular foster care agencies, according to the news agency.
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