Good Bye

and in my own opinion, good riddance. I've had a hell of a day, but I did want to take note of this story:

The state has declined to renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois, possibly ending a historic partnership initiated by the Roman Catholic Church a half-century ago and potentially severing the relationship between nearly 2,000 foster children and their caseworkers.

Though four Catholic Charities agencies had already stopped licensing new foster parents, three of them will seek an injunction from a Sangamon County judge on Tuesday to continue serving families and abiding by Catholic principles that prohibit placing children with unmarried cohabiting couples.

The problem with that is that Catholic Charities includes couples in civil unions among "unmarried, cohabiting couples." Unfortunately, the law says the couples in civil unions are to be treated the same as married couples.

In letters sent last week to Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Peoria, Joliet and Springfield and Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said the state could not accept their signed contracts for the 2012 fiscal year. Each letter said funding was declined because “your agency has made it clear that it does not intend to comply with the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act,” which the state says requires prospective parents in civil unions to be treated the same as married couples.

“That law applies to foster care and adoption services,” each letter stated. “Thus, there is no meeting of the minds as to the (fiscal year 2012) Foster Care and Adoption Contracts.”

I'm glad to see the state standing firm on this. I'm tired of state-sanctioned discrimination because of "religious beliefs." They're sure as hell not my religious beliefs.

And they're not going to be missed. Other agencies have already stepped in when other arms of Catholic Charities in Illinois have stopped adoption services. Other agencies will step in this time, too.

Update:

Another good-by and good riddance note:

Laura L. Fotusky, Town Clerk, Barker, may be the first New York State clerk to actually resign, rather than place her name on a same-sex “marriage” license. In a resignation letter presented to the Barker Town Board on July 11, Ms. Fotusky presented the following letter of resignation:

"To the Town of Barker Board, Supervisor Dilworth, Attorney Lewis and the Town Residents,"

“I have been in contact with Jason McGuire from New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, our Town Attorney, Richard Lewis, and a Constitutional Lawyer regarding the Marriage Equality Act that was passed June 24, 2011. There was no protection provided in the legislation for Town Clerks who are unable to sign these marriage licenses due to personal religious convictions, even though our US Constitution supports freedom of religion.”

“I believe that there is a higher law than the law of the land. It is the law of God in the Bible. In Acts 5:29, it states, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’”

As you can tell from the scare quotes around "marriage," this is from New Yorkers for Constitutional "Freedoms," a hate-group wannabe opposed to equality for all. I'm not going to link to them, but you can see Joe Jervis' post on it here.