A large, evangelical Christian adoption agency will now allow LGBTQ couples to adopt children nationwide for the first time in its 77-year history, the group announced on March 1.
Bethany Christian Services, based in Michigan and one of the largest adoption and foster agencies in the nation, had previously refused to accept same-sex couples on faith-based grounds and instead referred them to other agencies, the New York Times reports.
In a March 1 email to the organization’s 1,500 staff, however, Bethany’s president and chief executive, Chris Palusky, caved in and wrote: “We will now offer services with the love and compassion of Jesus to the many types of families who exist in our world today.”
“We’re taking an “all hands on deck” approach where all are welcome,” Palusky continued.
The surprising capitulation by Bethany follows an announcement by the state of Michigan in 2019 that it would no longer fund adoption groups that do not accept homosexual couples who want to be parents.
Bethany had already been providing adoption services to LGBTQ families in Michigan since that motion was announced two years ago. The company’s new inclusivity policy applies to the entire organization nationwide.
