Opinion: D.C. church’s choice: Help the needy or stand firm against gays and lesbians?

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One of the more absurd arguments against legalizing same-sex marriage goes like this: Gay men and women do indeed have the same rights as heterosexuals -- they can marry someone of the opposite gender.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is, in a sense, having a similar argument thrown in its face, as reported in the Washington Post:

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn’t change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.

‘If the city requires this, we can’t do it,’ Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Wednesday. ‘The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that’s really a problem.’
Several D.C. Council members said the Catholic Church is trying to erode the city’s long-standing laws protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination.

Read the whole Post article here.

So there you have it: Charities associated with the Catholic Church in Washington do indeed have the same rights as every other group -- to contract with the city to provide services without discriminating against gay men and women. Of course, there’s a far more pressing issue facing the archdiocese, as articulated by D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh: ‘’Are they really going to harm people because they have a philosophical disagreement with us on one issue? I hope, in the silver light of day, when this passes, because it will pass, they will not really act on this threat.’

The Times briefly addressed the conflict between religious charities and legalizing same-sex marriage in its editorial against Proposition 8.

-- Paul Thornton