CNA<\/a>).- A new version of a proposed Colorado civil unions bill has dropped provisions that protect agencies from being forced to place children with same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples \u2013 a change that could put at risk Catholic Charities' adoption and foster care services in the state.<\/p>\n\tJennifer Kraska, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, told CNA Jan. 16 that there have been \u201csignificant\u201d changes to the bill from last year\u2019s version, which failed to pass.<\/p>\n
\tIf the legislation passes this year, civil unions for two people of any sex would be legally equivalent to marriage under state law. The 2012 Colorado Senate bill proposing to create the unions had stated that the bill \u201cshall not be interpreted to require a child placement agency to place a child for adoption\u201d with a couple in a civil union.<\/p>\n
\tThat language, however, is absent from the 2013 bill, S.B. 11.<\/p>\n
\tKraska said this change means the legislation has the potential for \u201cserious conflict with religious liberty\u201d regarding religious institutions involved in charitable services as well as adoption and foster care.<\/p>\n
\tMark Rohlena, President and CEO of Catholic Charities of Central Colorado, said if the bill passes it could threaten the religious liberty of agencies like his that decline to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe feel it would be a very sad commentary if Colorado forced religious institutions or those who believe in a different framework to do something against their conscience,\u201d he told CNA Jan. 16.<\/p>\n
\tIf Colorado law forces the Colorado Springs-based agency to violate Catholic teaching, he said, \u201cwe probably would cease the operation of our adoption programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat risk is always there,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that we would try to explore every avenue available to us to provide this vital service to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe said a shutdown is \u201cvery well what could happen\u201d given precedents in other states.<\/p>\n
\tWhen Illinois passed a civil unions bill in 2010, its backers promised that religious freedom would not be affected. However, the next year state officials used the law to end Catholic Charities agencies\u2019 $30 million in state contracts for its work in caring for about 2,000 foster children each year. The state ruled that the agencies were discriminatory against unmarried couples and homosexual couples.<\/p>\n
\tIn 2010, a \u201cgay marriage\u201d law in the District of Columbia forced Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington to end its foster care and public adoption program because the law required it to serve homosexual couples.<\/p>\n
\tMassachusetts\u2019 anti-discrimination law forced Catholic Charities of Boston to end its adoption program, one of the oldest in the country.<\/p>\n
\tRohlena said that Catholic Charities of Central Colorado does not receive state funds to \u201cany significant degree.\u201d It follows Church teaching in placing children only with married couples and does not see couples in civil unions as married. The agency has worked in foster care in the past and would like to do so\u00a0 again in the future.<\/p>\n
\tCatholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver, a separate Colorado agency, has provided adoption and foster care services since 1927. It also does not accept state funding for adoption services, but it can contract with county governments to place children with the agency\u2019s certified foster families.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe believe that children are best served by one mother and one father, and that belief guides our placement decisions,\u201d the Denver-based agency told CNA Jan. 17.<\/p>\n
\tRohlena said the Colorado state constitution, like Catholic teaching, defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. He said this recognizes \u201cthe importance of that traditional marriage relationship for stability and advancement in society.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe said the previous civil unions bill had \u201cpretty robust\u201d sections protecting charitable agencies.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNot only did it say that we would have the freedom to continue to operate within our understanding of Church teaching. It also had protections for civil liability so that we couldn\u2019t be sued for continuing to operate as we are now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThose are not currently in the version of the bill that is being presented,\u201d Rohlena added, saying that he hoped that the protections will be put back into the legislation.<\/p>\n
\tCatholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver said it will continue to monitor the bill, but its primary focus will be \u201cto provide charitable, Christian service to those children in need, and to the families who so generously open their hearts and their homes to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe Colorado civil unions bill was killed in a Republican-controlled House of Representatives committee in 2011. In 2012, an unexpected yes vote from one Republican on a House committee sent the bill to the House floor, where it died in the tumultuous final hours of the legislative session. Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who backs the legislation,\u00a0 called for a special session where the bill again failed to pass.<\/p>\n
\tColorado has become a center for gay activist groups and several influential multi-millionaires have supported these causes. In 2008, software entrepreneur Tim Gill told the LGBT Caucus at the Democratic National Convention in Denver that they should specifically concentrate donations on state legislatures and primary races to shift politics in their favor and to block potential rivals from rising to higher office.<\/p>\n
\tIn April 2011, Gill\u2019s lawyer Ted Trimpa told Denver\u2019s Fox 31 News that Gill could spend as much as $2 million in 2012 Colorado political races to shift the state House to Democrat control.<\/p>\n
\tThe Democrats took control of Colorado House in the 2012 elections and elected Rep. Mark Ferrandino as the first gay Speaker of the House. He is co-sponsoring the bill with Sen. Pat Steadman.<\/p>\n
\tKraska said the civil unions proposal contradicts the \u201cwill of the people\u201d expressed in 2006, when voters rejected a civil unions equivalent bill and passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.<\/p>\n
\tThe Colorado Catholic Conference has organized a rally to support and protect marriage on Jan. 25 from noon to 1 p.m. on the west steps of the State Capitol in Denver.<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\")
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/pYAV4DiOGlc\")
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA).- A new version of a proposed Colorado civil unions bill has dropped provisions that protect agencies from being forced to place children with same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples – a change tha…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
Colo. civil unions bill could endanger Catholic child services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA).- A new version of a proposed Colorado civil unions bill has dropped provisions that protect agencies from being forced to place children with same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples – a change tha...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colo. civil unions bill could endanger Catholic child services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA).- A new version of a proposed Colorado civil unions bill has dropped provisions that protect agencies from being forced to place children with same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples – a change tha...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-18T07:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/\",\"name\":\"Colo. civil unions bill could endanger Catholic child services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-18T07:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-18T07:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA).- A new version of a proposed Colorado civil unions bill has dropped provisions that protect agencies from being forced to place children with same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples – a change tha...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Colo. civil unions bill could endanger Catholic child services\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Colo. civil unions bill could endanger Catholic child services","description":"Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA).- A new version of a proposed Colorado civil unions bill has dropped provisions that protect agencies from being forced to place children with same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples – a change tha...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Colo. civil unions bill could endanger Catholic child services","og_description":"Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA).- A new version of a proposed Colorado civil unions bill has dropped provisions that protect agencies from being forced to place children with same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples – a change tha...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2013-01-18T07:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/","name":"Colo. civil unions bill could endanger Catholic child services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-18T07:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-18T07:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA).- A new version of a proposed Colorado civil unions bill has dropped provisions that protect agencies from being forced to place children with same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples – a change tha...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-civil-unions-bill-could-endanger-catholic-child-services\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Colo. civil unions bill could endanger Catholic child services"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}