(Washington, DC, November 5, 2003) - As the nation debates the new wave of government funding of faith-based social services, Lambda Legal today announced a lawsuit settlement requiring civil rights safeguards when faith-based organizations receive taxpayer dollars to provide social services.
The terms of the settlement dictate that faith-based organizations providing publicly funded child welfare social services in Georgia must do so without infringing on the rights of employees, taxpayers, recipients of services or religious groups.
"On the heels of its ruling on same-sex marriage, California's highest court will decide another potentially landmark civil rights case: whether doctors can refuse to treat certain patients for religious reasons.
"The case reaches back nearly 10 years, to when Guadalupe "Lupita" Benítez of Oceanside was trying to conceive. Benítez, who is gay, says doctors violated her civil rights because they refused her a fertility treatment, saying it was against their religion to perform insemination on a lesbian.
