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(San Francisco, California) San Francisco
mayor Gavin Newsom has cancelled a trip to Rome for the installation of the
city's former Archbishop as a cardinal reportedly after learning the Church is
considering a ban on gay adoption in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Sentinel reported Tuesday that
banning gays and lesbians from adopting is "patently offensive".
He was to have attended the ceremony elevating
Archbishop William Levada to cardinal and head of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith.
The Sentinel reports that Newsom changed his mind
after reading that the San Francisco archdiocese was considering a change in its
policies to specifically bar gays from adopting children.
Catholic Charities of San Francisco said Friday that it was considering the
change following statements by Levada (story)
In an interview with the Boston Globe Levada
pointed to a 2003 Vatican document makes clear that ''Catholic agencies should
not place children for adoption in homosexual households."
He had been asked about Vatican policy after
Bishops in Massachusetts sought an exemption from the state's human rights law
that protects gays and lesbians.
Catholic Charities in Boston on Friday announced
it would close its adoption bureau rather than allow gays to adopt. Mass.
Gov. Mitt Romney is seeking an amendment to the human rights law to exempt the
church. On Tuesday he said he is not opposed to gay adoption but feels the
church should have the right to decide where it wants to place Catholic
children.
Newsom, a lifelong Catholic, told the Sentinel that the Vatican position is "wrong-headed".
"The idea, the principle that two loving parents of the same sex can't
be great parents and that this church is now going to start attacking gay
adoptions in this country and around the world was really disconcerting,"
he told the paper.
In 2004 Newsom began allowing same-sex couples to
marry. Some 4,000 same-sex couples wed before the courts nullified the
marriages. The issue of gay marriage is still before the courts and likely
to be heard by the California Supreme Court next year.
Meanwhile a third
Catholic Charities in a third state said it is taking preemptive measures to
ensure that children are not placed in gay households.
Catholic Charities of Denver said it will develop a formal policy
barring gays from adopting children in the agency's care.
Spokesperson Randy Weinert said that although
there have been no gay adoptions in Denver it wants to be prepared if the issue
should come up.
©365Gay.com 2006
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