In the wake of civil unions becoming legalized in Illinois, Catholic Charities in various cities have chosen to stop offering adoption services because they don’t want to give any children to gay couples.
So what happens to all the kids in their care? They have to go somewhere…
The (secular) Youth Service Bureau of Illinois Valley stepped up. They’ve already taken in 330 children and no doubt more will follow.
Sean Gillespie of the Air Capital Skeptics has been in contact with YSBIV’s director, David McClure, and he likes what he sees (despite McClure being openly religious):
This is an excellent example of an individual stepping up to promote strong humanist principles. It also seems that he clearly understands the difference of being a secular organization. I also find it refreshingly honest that he does not claim to know the will of a mysterious supernatural entity and only hopes that his actions are approved of.
I have also been in contact with Mr. McClure in order to thank him for his work and coordinate getting some donations together for his organizations. This particular quote from one of the emails really stands out.
“I hope the movement to stand up and do the right thing for gay couples trying to create family spreads.”
Their goals are clearly very in line with the goals of secular humanists and I think we need to do our part to help them out.
The Skeptics group wants to raise money for the agency and they’ve started a fundraising drive to make that happen:
It’s a great cause and you’d be directly helping the children who have been deserted by the Catholics who care more about practicing discrimination than they do about finding a good home for the kids. Please consider chipping in.