The decision to allow Britain’s last remaining Catholic adoption agency to retain its charitable status has been dismissed as “mistaken” by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
St Margaret's Children and Family Care Society in Glasgow won an appeal in February after being told last year by the Office of the Scottish Charity regulator (OSCR) that it was breaking the 2010 Equality Act by prioritising married heterosexual couples. The dispute followed a complaint by the National Secular Society.
The Scottish Charity Appeals Panel (SCAP) unanimously decided in favour of the adoption agency, overturning the OSCR ruling, leaving St Margaret's able to continue to describe itself as a Catholic charity. Now, following another complaint from the National Secular Society, the EHRC said SCAP’s ruling was “mistaken in its understanding of direct and indirect discrimination” and “not easy to follow”.
The EHRC highlighted SCAP’s finding, based on the agency’s evidence, that it would “[in] principle” consider an application for adoption from “a couple in a civil partnership.” The EHRC said it has “written to St Margaret’s advising it to ensure that its published policies and practices properly reflect its stated position that adoption applications from couples in civil partnerships will be considered in the same way as those from married couples; and to ensure that such applications are indeed considered equally.” This would “give gay couples wishing to adopt the confidence that they will be treated without unlawful discrimination,” the EHRC said.
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