Last week a Greenville couple filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump Administration, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and the state Department of Social Services.
The married lesbian couple say they are suing over the religious exemption granted to Miracle Hill Ministries.
That exemption, which was requested by McMaster and granted by the Trump Administration’s US Department of Health and Human Services, allowed the organization to continue receiving federal and state funds while maintaining its policy of not fostering children to LGBT couples or couples who don’t agree with its statement of faith.
The couple said their own application to foster children was rejected due to their religious and sexual orientation.
In a statement, Miracle Hill’s President and CEO Reid Lehman said he was “saddened” by the lawsuit and added that the group would be “honored to work with them if they shared our religious convictions in belief and practice, and we’ve encouraged them to volunteer in honor ways with our ministry if they would like to do so.”
Lehman goes on to address the couple’s argument that disallowing gay couples from fostering children only serves to deprive children of nurturing, supportive homes. Lehman said that he believed allowing faith-based groups like Miracle Hill to keep their own faith-based standards actually increases the pool of available foster homes.