Adoption agencies will be forced to place children with same-sex couples, regardless of an agency's beliefs.

Adoption agencies that oppose placing children with same-sex couples for religious or other reasons have already been forced to stop providing adoption services in Massachusetts and California.

Here are some examples:

For 20 years, Catholic Charities of Boston had provided a vital service by placing for adoption the most difficult-to-place children within the Massachusetts social welfare system. In 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled, by a bare 4-3 majority, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. In 2006, Catholic Charities of Boston announced that it was being forced to abandon its adoption work because of religious objections to a new state law requiring that same-sex couples be allowed to adopt children.

In 2004, an Arizona Internet-based adoption agency was sued by a California same-sex couple because it had refused to post their profile on its website. The agency’s policies required that adoptive parents be married. The agency was ultimately forced to cease posting profiles of Californians.

If Proposition 8 does not pass, adoption agencies with religious affiliations or that otherwise object on moral grounds to placing children with same-sex couples can expect more aggressive legal attacks by married same-sex couples in California.

Vote YES on Proposition 8 to protect the right of adoption agencies to require a mother and a father for every adopted child.