Romney shifts on adoption by gays
To weigh exemption for Catholic agency
Governor Mitt Romney signaled new openness yesterday to considering a request by Catholic bishops to ban gay couples from adopting children from Catholic social service agencies, a shift from earlier comments in which he said he had no authority in the matter.
''We respect and honor the free practice of religion, and we look forward to meeting with representatives from the Catholic Church to discuss this issue," Romney said through a spokesman.
The governor's shift occurred on the same day that three members of the board of Catholic Charities of Boston resigned over the bishops' decision to seek the exemption from the state antidiscrimination policy, according to a board member. The 42-member board, which is dominated by lay people, has gone on record unanimously in favor of continuing to allow gays to adopt. The member declined to name the three members who resigned.
The state's four bishops released a statement yesterday saying they face ''a serious problem in which our religious freedom is challenged" because of the state requirement that they consider gays as adoptive parents. The Vatican has called such adoptions ''gravely immoral."
''Because of the Church's teaching, Catholic agencies may not provide adoptions to same-sex couples," the statement said. ''Hence we intend to seek relief from the regulatory requirements of the Commonwealth on this issue. We do this in the hope that we will be able to continue focusing our attention on serving children in need of adoption."
Edward Saunders -- executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the group that represents the bishops -- said he could not say yet how the bishops will proceed, other than that there are ''several routes to pursue relief." Previously, the bishops have been described as considering three options: asking Romney directly for an executive order exempting them from the state antidiscrimination policy; seeking passage of legislation allowing religious organizations to opt out of gay adoptions; or fighting the case in court, on grounds of freedom of religion.
After a three-hour special meeting of the Catholic Charities board yesterday, board members leaving the session declined to comment on the discussions.
The Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, president of Catholic Charities of Boston and a nonvoting board member, also declined to comment. The chairman of the board, Jeffrey Kaneb, issued a statement through a spokeswoman saying simply that ''the board recognizes the need for further discussion with the archbishop" about the plan to prohibit gays from adopting.
Romney's statement yesterday followed a meeting last week of Saunders and the governor's staff and is strikingly more receptive than his initial reaction to the bishops' plan. On Feb. 16, the governor said he did not think such an exemption could be given. He said that he understood ''any exemption would require legislation and would not be something I would be authorized to do on a personal basis."
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom would not elaborate on the governor's statement yesterday. Romney, who has been a strong opponent of gay marriage, has not expressed his personal views on the subject.
In the past two decades, Catholic Charities in Boston placed 13 children with same-sex couples, a tiny fraction of the 720 children placed by the agency during that time. All were foster children who were considered hard to place, either because they had special needs or were older.
State officials have said that Catholic Charities, like all other adoption agencies, must have a state license to do the work and is prohibited by law from discriminating against gay couples. If Catholic Charities does not find a way to exempt itself from the requirement, it will have to allow gay couples to adopt or risk losing its license altogether and stop handling any adoptions.
In another development yesterday, a major Boston law firm, Ropes & Gray, said it will no longer be doing legal work to assist the bishops in their effort to halt the gay adoptions, a representative of the firm said.
Ropes & Gray had been hired to look into how Catholic Charities agencies could find a legal exemption from a state law requiring them to handle gay adoptions. Their work had focused on the legal options, but it was never clear they would actually be in charge of political or legal efforts to secure an exemption.
But yesterday, the law firm representative, who asked to remain anonymous because the firm does not generally talk about clients' cases, said Ropes & Gray will no longer be doing any more legal work on the gay adoption issue.
Patricia Wen can be reached at wen@globe.com. 