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Largest Protestant adoption agency in US opens to LGBTQ parents
The Hill ^ | 1st March 2021 | JUSTINE COLEMAN

Posted on 03/01/2021 2:16:23 PM PST by Ennis85

The largest Protestant adoption and foster agency in the country has decided to open up its services to LGBTQ parents nationwide, a win for same-sex couples as several religious agencies have declined them services in the past, the company announced to staff Monday.

Chris Palusky, the president and chief executive of Bethany Christian Services, informed staff of the evangelical organization that the change would go into effect immediately, according to an email obtained by The New York Times. The adjustment comes as several cities and states have mandated that adoption agencies accept same-sex parents in order to receive government funding.

“We will now offer services with the love and compassion of Jesus to the many types of families who exist in our world today,” Palusky said in the announcement. “We’re taking an ‘all hands on deck’ approach where all are welcome.”

Previously, the Michigan-based organization in most states referred LGBTQ parents to different agencies, although the process was not official, Bethany leaders told the Times.

A lesbian Philadelphia couple’s story of being referred to a different agency in 2018 sparked outrage, leading the city to suspend contracts with Bethany’s local branch and another agency Catholic Social Services. Bethany later complied with the city’s requirements, while Catholic Social Services took the case to court, prompting the Supreme Court to hear arguments in November.

The following year, the agency took a similar position in Michigan after the state declared it wouldn’t fund agencies that didn’t open up adoptions to LGBTQ parents. Bethany branches in 12 states allowed LGBTQ families to adopt as of late 2020, according to the Times.

Bethany’s national board voted in January to approve an inclusivity resolution that removed its previous statement from 2007 that “God’s design for the family is a covenant and lifelong marriage of one man and one woman.”

The new policy does not directly mention LGBTQ parents but says, “Christians of mutual good faith can reasonably disagree on various doctrinal issues, about which Bethany does not maintain an organizational position.”

Bethany intends to provide training to all employees in the coming months including at its locations where employees have not worked with LGBTQ parents.

"These days, families look a lot different than they did when we started," Nate Bult, the senior vice president of public and government affairs, said in a statement. "And Bethany is committed to welcoming and serving all of them."

Adoption is more prevalent among the LGBTQ community with more than 20 percent of same-sex couples with children having an adopted child, while 3 percent of straight couples said the same, according to a 2016 report.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gay; gayadoptions; homosexual; lgtb
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"a win for same-sex couples "

And a loss for the children who will be denied a mother and father.

1 posted on 03/01/2021 2:16:23 PM PST by Ennis85
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To: Ennis85

It’s all about the money.


2 posted on 03/01/2021 2:17:13 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: Ennis85
How come LGBT parent are favored by adoption agencies over straight parents?

Plus, LGBT couples make more money than straight couples.

3 posted on 03/01/2021 2:17:34 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Ennis85

Sickening


4 posted on 03/01/2021 2:17:53 PM PST by mrmeyer (You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. Robert Heinlein)
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To: Ennis85

Indeed. Homosexual acts should be generally illegal, not tolerated, and certainly homosexuals should not have access to such services.


5 posted on 03/01/2021 2:18:28 PM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Ennis85

We are no longer inching along to total depravity. Now, we are on the high speed rail. My heart GRIEVES for these children.


6 posted on 03/01/2021 2:18:36 PM PST by Paved Paradise
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To: Ennis85

They love money above all else.


7 posted on 03/01/2021 2:18:55 PM PST by Bogey78O (So far so good.)
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To: Ennis85

They love money more than God.


8 posted on 03/01/2021 2:18:58 PM PST by fwdude (Pass up too many hills to die on, and you will eventually fall off the edge of the world.)
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To: Ennis85

If they are bi does that mean non-monogamous households?


9 posted on 03/01/2021 2:19:37 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: nickcarraway

Couples in the gay community seem to not stay together long. Just a personal observation.


10 posted on 03/01/2021 2:21:16 PM PST by pnut22
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To: Ennis85

“A lesbian Philadelphia couple’s story of being referred to a different agency in 2018 sparked outrage, leading the city to suspend contracts with Bethany’s local branch.”

Everything else is rationalization.

“Adoption is more prevalent among the LGBTQ community with more than 20 percent of same-sex couples with children having an adopted child, while 3 percent of straight couples said the same, according to a 2016 report.”

Homes with disabled people living in it are more likely to be ADA compliant. Weird, right?


11 posted on 03/01/2021 2:22:39 PM PST by Bogey78O (So far so good.)
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To: Ennis85
"Adoption is more prevalent among the LGBTQ community with more than 20 percent of same-sex couples with children having an adopted child, while 3 percent of straight couples said the same, according to a 2016 report."

A fake statistic. Homos make up, at most, 3% of the population while straight couples make up 97+%. The result is that adoptions are far, far more likely by normal (straight) couples.

12 posted on 03/01/2021 2:23:35 PM PST by fwdude (Pass up too many hills to die on, and you will eventually fall off the edge of the world.)
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To: Ennis85

so wicked. Lord, Jesus, have mercy on us


13 posted on 03/01/2021 2:24:40 PM PST by spacejunkie2001
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To: Ennis85

Has anyone else noticed that black and Hispanic kids seem less confused about their plumbing? Is this LGBT-ASPCAIU-MOUSE sickness mostly a white, liberal phenomenon?


14 posted on 03/01/2021 2:24:44 PM PST by JonPreston (Q: Never have so many, been so wrong, so often)
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To: Ennis85

America’s narcissistic yuppies can now even buy children as lifestyle accessories. And “woke” christians will sanction it!

I knew a man and woman who adopted two children from Central America. A few years later, Dad decides - he’s gay. Mom disappears.

Since then the kids have been exposed to an endless stream of ‘boyfriends’ through the house.

Kids are growing up with all kinds of problems. Its a mess.


15 posted on 03/01/2021 2:28:30 PM PST by PGR88
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To: Ennis85

“Protestant” and “Christian” aren’t always the same.


16 posted on 03/01/2021 2:29:04 PM PST by Socon-Econ (adical Islam, )
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To: Sacajaweau

Just like organized crime.

“It’s all about the dollars. Always the dollars.” (Joe Pesci / Goodfellas)


17 posted on 03/01/2021 2:32:28 PM PST by Third Wheel
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To: Ennis85

Did God email them of a change in His ideas?


18 posted on 03/01/2021 2:32:47 PM PST by Midwesterner53
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To: Ennis85

They will get their pieces of silver but at the same cost as came to Judas.


19 posted on 03/01/2021 2:33:40 PM PST by Midwesterner53
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To: Ennis85

The adjustment comes as several cities and states have mandated that adoption agencies accept same-sex parents in order to receive government funding....”

Wow. Selling out God for lucre. There’s a plan.


20 posted on 03/01/2021 2:34:01 PM PST by TalBlack (We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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