Here’s a situation we wouldn’t see here in the U.S.: A couple in the U.K. was refused permission to become foster parents after they told a panel that their [Christian] belief would prevent them from addressing a child’s homosexuality in a positive light.” The panel rejected their application, citing the recent Sexual Orientation Act that forbids businesses or organizations providing public services to discriminate because of anyone’s sexuality.
This is a tough one. I am vehement that schools teach tolerance for those of all sexual orientations and gender identities. At the same time, I’d support parents’ right to teach their children privately that homosexuality is morally wrong, much as I abhor the thought of them doing so. (I’d draw the line, though, if they were inciting their children to acts of harassment or violence. That would have to be stopped.)
Is this couple’s situation clouded by the fact that they are foster parents, however, and the children are ultimately overseen by a public authority? Is it acceptable for a foster care agency to say “We can’t always predict which children will come out as LGBT, so we can’t risk placing any children with someone who would view that as a negative, causing emotional harm to such children”? I’d be interested in hearing foster parents’ views on the subject.
At the same time, I’d support parents’ right to teach their children privately that homosexuality is morally wrong, much as I abhor the thought of them doing so.
I agree. But since they would be foster parents, these would not be their children. They would be someone else’s children. And that is another story entirely.
I would respect a foster parent’s personal view that being LGBT is in conflict with their religious or personal convictions. If you’re opening your home to foster children, however, you need to respect that the convictions of those kids are just as valid. You need to be able to support them on the journey they are on.
We always have the ability to say that we would rather not accept a placement, but it’s very unlikely that you would know the child’s entire story when you do.
Our foster children arrive in our homes from a wide variety family situations. Some have been in multiple homes and some of those homes will have included LGBT parents and siblings that these kids have formed attachments to.
Just as you can’t always predict which children will come out as LGBT, you can’t always know who the important people in the lives of these kids are. I would hate to imagine them being placed in a home that condemned a part of their lives that they truly valued. They have enough to deal with without feeling a need to defend themselves or the people they love in the home they are placed in.
I doubt if anyone would question if an agency failed to place a child with white supremacists.
I don’t see this as any different.
YAY to the UK!
Another reason why the US sucks a$$. If it happened here then the US would probably applaud them and then give them their own reality show.
WOW The world is changing – great news!!