NY Court: Christian adoption agency cannot be shut down for denying placement with same-sex, co-habiting heterosexual couples

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A New York district judge ruled Tuesday that a Christian adoption agency that does not receive federal funding cannot be shut down for refusing to place children with same-sex couples and unmarried cohabitating heterosexual couples, the Christian Post (CP) reports.

The case arose in 2018 when the New York Office of Children and Family Services (OFC) filed suit against the New Hope Family Services for violating a 2013 state law prohibiting discrimination against adoption applicants on the basis of sexual orientation and marital status, CP reports.

New Hope counter-sued, arguing that the OFC was violating the agency’s First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights, CP. In 2020 the case reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which ruled in favor of New Hope,
Ordering the case back down to the district court, Circuit Judge Reena Raggi said in the ruling: “It is plainly a serious step to order an authorized adoption agency such as New Hope — operating without complaint for 50 years, taking no government funding, successfully placing approximately 1,000 children, and with adoptions pending or being supervised — to close all its adoption operations.”

On Tuesday, Judge Mae D’Agostino issued an order permanently blocking OFC from closing down New Hope and from forcing the agency “to process applications from, or place children for adoption with, same-sex couples or unmarried cohabitating couples, and insofar as it would prevent New Hope from referring such couples to other agencies.”

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