A Catholic adoption agency in Michigan will be allowed to stay in business while a case challenging the state’s adoption law works its way through the courts.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker ruled that the state’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, violated the religious liberty of the St. Vincent agency, which holds a traditional view of marriage, when she said she would not defend a 2015 state law that allows adoption agencies with traditional views on marriage to place children in state-approved homes.
The state law is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Without that ruling, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services would have cited St. Vincent’s opposition to gay marriage as discriminatory and nullified its license to participate in the state-sponsored adoption process.
“That kind of targeted attack on a sincerely held religious belief is what calls for strict scrutiny in this case and supports entry of a preliminary injunction preserving this status quo while the case is fully litigated,” wrote Judge Jonker in the 32-page opinion.
Critics have denounced St. Vincent for its opposition to placing children with same-sex families. However, Judge Jonker said the merits of a same-sex household are not in debate in the case. Moreover, he wrote, St. Vincent has placed children with same-sex couples.
“This case is not about whether same-sex couples can be great parents,” Judge Jonker wrote. “They can. No one in the case contest that.”
• Christopher Vondracek can be reached at cvondracek@washingtontimes.com.
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