Charity says it’s exempt from civil unions law

SPRINGFIELD — A Catholic adoption and foster care charity that has worked as a state contractor for 40 years told an Illinois judge Wednesday that it shouldn’t be forced to place children in homes of unmarried couples, as state officials say is required by a new law recognizing civil unions.

But attorneys for the state said it’s appropriate to cancel contracts totaling $30.6 million to Catholic Charities because the nonprofit is violating gay couples’ rights by refusing to assist them but referring them to other agencies. The contracts are renewed each year.

Judge John Schmidt did not make a ruling in the case Wednesday. The Department of Children and Family Services canceled this year’s contract after the fiscal year began July 1 but Schmidt issued a temporary that keeps the contracts in place until he decides.

Catholic Charities sued in July when the Department of Children and Family Services terminated its contracts because the charity refused to comply with the state’s civil unions law, which enables gay or unmarried couples to be legally recognized as a couple by the state. Catholic Charities argues that the law and another other state statute provide religious exemptions.

Thomas Brejcha, a lawyer for Catholic Charities, said the group’s work is essential because of the number of children it serves, so it would rather keep the contracts than walk away.

“Catholic Charities is spurred, motivated and sustained by its Gospel mission to care for the poor, the vulnerable and the needy,” Brejcha told the judge during a hearing in Sangamon County.

The organization sends unmarried couples who want to adopt or be foster parents to other agencies.

That’s discriminatory, said Assistant Attorney General Deborah Barnes. She argued that DCFS is right to end the state’s pacts with four Catholic dioceses because of new conditions that Catholic Charities refused to follow.

“The legal landscape changed,” Barnes said, “and the reason the legal landscape changed is that persons united under the civil unions act have the same right to care for children as any other citizen of the state.”