Nonprofit supporters are up in arms about an ultimatum from Catholic Charities to the D.C. City Council that they will stop serving the city’s poor if same-sex marriage is recognized in the District. The threat comes on the heels of pending legislation in the Council which would, as a consequence, make gay couples eligible for employee benefits. According to 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.
Concern runs high because Catholic Charities is one of the main homeless service providers in the District, serving “68,000 people in the city, including the one-third of Washington’s homeless people who go to city-owned shelters managed by the church.” If Catholic Charities were to cease providing these services, city would have to find another organization to take on the task. For the Church, this is no small threat.
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.
However staunch the Church’s convictions on this issue, though, it’s clear that their supporters are not in complete agreement. Since Thursday, hundreds of Twitter users have been discussing the issue and generally feel that using the poor as a political bargaining chip is wrong, uncharitable, and misrepresents the Church’smessage of “love thy neighbor.”
Some are even calling for the public to stop donating to Catholic Charities because of its “anti-gay” stance.
Thankfully, it doesn’t sound like D.C. Council members are taking the bluff.
David A. Catania (I-At Large), said he would rather end the city’s relationship with the church than give in to its demands. “They don’t represent, in my mind, an indispensable component of our social services infrastructure,” said Catania, the sponsor of the same-sex marriage bill and the chairman of the Health Committee.