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Lawsuit: Mass. Catholic couple says they were barred from fostering children over LGBTQ+ beliefs
Mike and Kitty Burke, a Catholic couple from Southampton, say they were turned away as foster parents over their religious views on gender and sexuality.
A Catholic couple in Southampton is suing several officials within the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, claiming the state barred them from fostering children over their religious beliefs on gender and sexuality.
In a federal lawsuit filed this week, Mike and Catherine “Kitty” Burke described themselves as “a loving couple who want to welcome children into their family.”
Mike, an Iraq War veteran, and Kitty, a former school paraprofessional, struggled with infertility and turned to foster care when private adoption proved too expensive.
“But DCF denied the Burkes a foster care license, and, as such, their last opportunity to become parents,” their lawsuit reads. “Only one reason was given for that denial: they ‘would not be affirming to a child who identified as LGBTQIA.’”
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As practicing Catholics, the Burkes “believe that children should not undergo procedures that attempt to change their God-given sex, and they uphold Catholic beliefs about marriage and sexuality,” according to the complaint.
DCF’s actions were discriminatory and unconstitutional, the couple alleged.
They’ve named Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh, DCF Commissioner Linda Spears, and several other DCF workers as defendants in their lawsuit.
The Executive Office of Health and Human Services and Department of Children and Families do not comment on pending litigation, according to a DCF official.
Why was the couple blocked from fostering children?
The Burkes reportedly underwent several hours of training and extensive interviews during the application process. Much of the questioning, they said, centered on what they would do if their child was questioning their sexuality or gender.
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“In response to those questions, Mike and Kitty emphasized that they would love and accept their child, no matter his or her future sexual orientation or struggles with gender identity,” the lawsuit reads.
A social worker’s report included in the lawsuit notes that the couple was asked about their feelings on parenting children who identify as LGBTQ+.
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“Kitty immediately said, ‘let’s take the T out of it,’” according to the report.
Asked how she would feel if her child identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or another sexuality, she reportedly replied, “There’s nothing wrong with it, I’m going to love you the same, but I believe you would need to live a chaste life.”
“Kitty expressed that she does not believe in gender affirming care for children,” the report noted, adding that she referred to such care as “chemical castration” and said she doesn’t believe that people can choose their pronouns.
Mike Burke, meanwhile, told the social worker he has many friends who are gay or lesbian and has attended several same-sex weddings. He told the social worker he would likely attend his child’s wedding if they married someone of the same sex.
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He also said he would likely not consider any type of gender affirming care for a child under the age of 18.
In a later email, the social worker noted that the Burkes “have a lot of strengths” and “really seems to understand adoption/foster care.” However, she wrote, “their faith is not supportive [of LGBTQ+ youth] and neither are they.”
The social worker ultimately recommended that they be approved with conditions, “specifically around religion and LGBTQIA++ related issues.”
DCF denied the couple’s foster care license earlier this year.
“After months of interviews and training, and after years of heartbreak, we were on the verge of finally becoming parents,” the Burkes said in a statement. “We were absolutely devastated to learn that Massachusetts would rather children sleep in the hallways of hospitals than let us welcome children in need into our home.”
Representing the couple are Boston-based attorney Michael Gilleran and Becket Law, a Washington, D.C., public interest law firm focused on religious liberty.
“It takes the heroic effort of parents like Mike and Kitty to provide vulnerable children with loving homes through foster care,” Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement. “Massachusetts’ actions leave the Burkes, and families of other faiths, out in the cold. How can they explain this to children waiting for a home?”
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