Texas archdiocese challenges LGBT rule

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas archdiocese wants to become a foster care provider, but only if it can be exempt from adhering to federal safeguards against anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender discrimination.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is joining the Texas attorney general’s office and the Department of Family and Protective Services in challenging the rule that prohibits discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and other characteristics, the Houston Chronicle reported.

“The archdiocese may only provide foster care services consistent with its sincerely held beliefs on Catholic doctrine and social teaching,” said the lawsuit filed on Oct. 31. “As such, the archdiocese cannot provide home studies and certifications for unmarried cohabitating or same-sex married couples.”

A day after the lawsuit was filed, the federal Department of Health and Human Services revealed its plans to rewrite a President Barack Obama-era anti-discrimination rule to allow faith-based foster care and adoption agencies to exclude LGBT parents.

Child welfare advocates warn that the lawsuit could reduce the state’s already scarce pool of foster parents.

“When you completely shut the door to many good people because they are same-sex or single parents, it isn’t about fixing capacity, it’s about restricting capacity to certain groups,” said Will Francis, the executive director of the National Association of Social Workers Texas Chapter.

Neither Attorney General Ken Paxton nor the Family and Protective Services Department responded to the newspaper’s request for comment.