The refusal earlier this month of Boston's Catholic Charities to continue to offer adoption services if required to place children with gay and lesbian parents triggered events leading to a heated exchange last week in San Francisco on the same issue. The San Francisco Chronicle and KTVU TV reported last week on the controversy. In the Vatican, Cardinal-elect William Levada, the former archbishop for San Francisco, was asked by the press to comment on the Boston situation. He said, "it has been, and remains, my position that Catholic agencies should not place children for adoption in homosexual households."
In response to this, first the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a measured editorial criticizing Levada's statement. Then the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a strongly worded non-binding resolution. It said in part: "It is an insult to all San Franciscans when a foreign country, like the Vatican, meddles with and attempts to negatively influence this great city's existing and established customs and traditions, such as the right of same-sex couples to adopt and care for children in need." Also, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a divorced Catholic, canceled his planned trip to Rome to attend the elevation of Levada at a ceremony held last Friday. Finally, the National Center for Lesbian Rights said last week that it might sue the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco if it bans its affiliated social service agency from allowing adoptions by same-sex couples.
