The attorney for a Massachusetts couple who filed a lawsuit after the state denied their application to be foster parents for being religious told Newsmax on Thursday that their exclusion, "based entirely on a hypothetical," is "scary."
In fact, Lori Windham told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" that the couple, Catherine "Kitty" and Michael Burke, who are devoutly Roman Catholic, "believe in the dignity of every person and the obligation to love every child," regardless of that child identifying as LGBTQ+.
The Burkes filed the lawsuit after their foster parent application was denied by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) in April over the staff's concern with some of their responses to questions as part of a screening process. DCF denied the application because the Burkes wouldn't be gender affirming.
The Burkes in their lawsuit say they "believe that children should not undergo procedures that attempt to change their God-given sex, and they uphold Catholic beliefs about marriage and sexuality."
The DCF updated its regulations in January to require foster parents promote the wellbeing of a child, including "supporting and respecting a child's sexual orientation or gender identity."
The Burkes argue that DCF can't use those standards "to operate as a religious exclusion for potential foster parents."
"Mike and Kitty are devout Catholics. They believe what the Catholic Church believes. They believe in the dignity of every person and the obligation to love every child," Windham said. "They would love and welcome any child who was placed in their home.
"And I think we all know that not every kid grows up to agree with their parents on everything and to believe everything their parents believe. But they're still your child, and you still love them. And that's exactly what Mike and Kitty hope to do."
Further, reports over the last six months found that the state's DCF had kids staying in hospital rooms and agency offices because of the backlog of finding homes.
"It's shocking," Windham said. "We're talking about little kids here. They were willing to welcome very young children into their home. And so this is based entirely on a hypothetical, the idea that you would just be excluded entirely from fostering and adopting children because of your religious beliefs is scary."
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Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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