Here in America, we fight for the right to place children in loving homes headed by people who happen to be homosexual. In Britain, they understand that the "loving" part is what is important, and have made an important step towards ensuring that.
Imagine...a country where children without homes are placed with foster parents with their best interests at heart, instead of foster parents with an agenda based on mythology and petty malice. A system where those who are able to provide for and care for disadvantaged children are welcomed, and those who would degrade and berate children for their natural feelings are barred.
"I cannot lie and I cannot hate, but I cannot tell a child that it is ok to be homosexual", as Mrs Johns explained her position.
A court in Britain has ruled that this woman is ineligible to foster children.
Imagine being a child who has been told by their parents that they are dirty and unnatural. Imagine being freed of the impossible burden of self-hatred.
I was raised by a fundamentalist Christian who, amazingly, has gradually mellowed over the years. As kids, my siblings and I were taught that gay people weren't necessarily EVIL - just their "urges." As long as they don't ACT on their "urges", they're okay. They must remain celibate forever, seeing their homosexuality as the Devil's challenge and God's trial, not as something intricate to their being. As it turns out, I have one gay sibling and one bisexual sibling. With these revelations, my mother has traversed the gauntlet from anti-gay to accepting of human differences. Thank goodness for that. And yet, one of her friends referred to gay people as "sick abominations" in the presence of my gay brother - a young teenager. She didn't know the effect of what she was saying, but that doesn't make it right. Not knowing that a kid is gay doesn't mean you get to insult and degrade gay children. There's the clincher. Virulently anti-gay people should not be allowed to be foster parents because you never f'ing know.
It is not acceptable to tar anyone, let alone a child, as a "sick abomination." Not knowing is no excuse. When an adult behaves worse than the kids they wish to foster, it's time to shut down the process and deal a rebuke. Go back to your room and think about what you've said...when you can tell me why it's wrong, you'll be ungrounded. Your right to religion ends right at the borderline where a child's right to self-determination and self-confidence begins.