A Pennsylvania court has denied a nonbiological mother parental rights to the child she and her former spouse, the biological mother, had planned and created together. It is the second recent case in the U.S. to do so.
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Philadelphia can require foster care agencies that have city contracts to adhere to the city’s nondiscrimination laws. The ruling comes in a case in which one agency tried to claim its religious beliefs allowed it to refuse service to same-sex prospective parents—while still taking public funds.
Numerous LGBTQ advocacy and youth organizations have just filed “friend of the court” briefs in the first appeals court case that will decide whether taxpayer-funded child service agencies may cite their religious beliefs to discriminate against prospective foster parents and youth in care.
Just two days after a U.S. House committee approved an amendment that would allow publicly funded foster care and adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ parents and others based on the agencies’ religious or moral beliefs, a federal court issued a decision saying that Philadelphia can require foster care agencies with city contracts to follow its LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination policies.
