State Agency Removes Website Links To "Open and Affirming" Churches

Connecticut's Department of Children and Families has removed from its website links to "open and affirming" churches-- i.e. churches that welcome gays, lesbians and persons who are bisexual and transgender. Yesterday's Hartford Courant reports that the links were removed after the Family Institute of Connecticut (FIC), a group that opposes same-sex marriage, threatened to sue. It claimed that placing the links on the state agency's website violates the Establishment Clause as well as parental rights. FIC also asked the Department to make sure that the organization training social workers on issues faced by GLBT youth does not provide information on "open and affirming" churches in its training sessions.