GenQ - For the not so straight individual

With the backing of the Anglican Church, British Roman Catholic leaders have now repeated their calls for Prime Minister Tony Blair's administration to exclude the Catholic Church from the new act. Prompting both Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, to write to Blair.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Archbishop Sentamu said, "The rights of conscience cannot be made subject to legislation however well-meaning." He warned, "When you over-legislate and intervene too much in people's private lives I think in the long run you end up with a statute being used to cure all ills which it cannot. And I think the danger is therefore that to spin a legal spider's web from which actually nobody can escape".

Catholic adoption agencies say the teachings of their faith prevent its agencies placing adoptive children with homosexual couples and if bound to the rules, they will close their doors due to the Equality Act, which is due to take effect in April. The agencies which process 32% of all voluntary sector adoptions across Wales and England will be shutting out some 4,000 children still awaiting placements.

In another letter to Blair, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, still facing allegations by secular and gay-rights activists that he is using "blackmail" in a bid to secure exemptions, wrote, "Catholic teaching about the foundations of family life means that Catholic adoption agencies would not be able to recruit and consider homosexual couples as potential adoptive parents." Cardinal O'Connor continued by flipping the argument and stating that commanding the church and devout Catholics to "act against the teaching of the church and their own consciences," [the law itself amounted to] "unjust discrimination against Catholics."

While political analysts believe Blair is leaning towards the church's side of the argument, but noted approving the exemption would cause deep rifts within his Labour party, Blair's official spokemans told reporters, "the key thing we have to remember in all of this is the interests of the children concerned, and that there are arguments on both sides."

Adding, "This is a difficult issue. At the core of it are the children - not just those in care now but those receiving after-care."

Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer told the BBC that he did not wish to see Catholic churches close the doors to their adoption agencies, but added that if society disapproves of discrimination against homosexuals, "you cannot give exclusions to people on the grounds that their religion or their race says, 'We don't agree with that.'"

It is understood that many Cabinet members are not prepared to concede on the issue, but the official spokesman said he was not aware that any had spoken out on the issue or threatened to resign over it and the National Secular Society said that allowing an exemption for the Church would open the "floodgates for a never-ending series of demands".

The church now refers gay couples to other agencies that are willing to accept their application.