Weekly Political Roundup

• San Francisco Catholic Charities (SFCC) has followed an earlier move by Boston Catholic Charities and shut down their adoption services, so they don’t have to place children with lesbian and gay couples. Unlike their East Coast counterparts, however, they will partner with another agency, California Kids Connection, to which they will refer prospective adoptive parents, including same-sex ones. Three Catholic Charities’ staff members will work with California Kids Connection and “help all prospective parents, including gays and lesbians.” According to the Boston Globe, the Archbishop of San Francisco “thought it was a form of potential ‘remote’ cooperation that does not conflict with Catholic moral teaching.” While this seems a flimsy distinction at best, I studied medieval theology long enough to know that more has been made of less. If it helps more children get placed in good homes, it’s a better solution that the Boston Archdiocese has found.
• The Indiana Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of a lower-court ruling permitting same-sex couples to adopt children. Opponents have said they will introduce legislation next year to bar same-sex parent adoptions. (Tip from PageOneQ.) Two days earlier, Indiana’s House of Representatives voted 72-23 in favor of an amendment banning same-sex marriage.
• The North Carolina legislature,however, adjourned its 2006 session without voting on a bill to ban same-sex marriage, the third time it has failed to do so.
• A British lesbian couple was denied the right to have their Canadian marriage recognized in the U. K., while an Irish lesbian couple has a hearing date in the fall to argue the same matter in Ireland.

Finally, a poll released by the Pew Research Center says that the “culture war” in the U. S. over issues like same-sex marriage, abortion, and stem-cell research “may be overblown.” The poll found that more Americans hold middle-ground opinions and are willing to consider other points of view than is often thought. On same-sex marriage, 56% opposed it, but 53% favored legal agreements that provide many of the same rights as married couples. (Not the same as equality, but a step in the right direction.) Additionally, more Americans believe sexual orientation is innate: 36% vs. 30% in 2003, with 49% believing it cannot be changed, vs. 42% in 2003.

Earlier this week, I wrote on the “Mommy Wars,” a media-hyped creation trying to make much of the tension between employed and stay-at-home moms. The Pew findings reinforce the idea that many of these controversies are media-generated. They give me hope that there really is a large, convinceable center in the U. S., and despite the sound and fury between the LGBT community and the ultra-right, it is our ability to meet those in the middle that will help us make progress towards acceptance and equality.