Kenilworth, 15 April 2011 — The gay humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) has expressed its outrage and disbelief at a local council’s decision to transfer counselling from a long established secular charity to a Roman Catholic one.
Richmond Council has awarded a contract previously held by Off The Record, a local, inclusive secular charity that had been providing the counselling service for the past 20 years, to the Catholic Children’s Society (CCS). The CCS famously gave up working with new adopters after the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 came into force, which meant that they would no longer be able to discriminate against gay couples wanting to adopt.
The PTT’s secretary, George Broadhead, commented: “The issues on which counselling service will be provided to teenagers include contraception, unwanted pregnancy and homophobic bullying, Given the dogmatic and reactionary stance taken by the Catholic Church on abortion, contraception and homosexuality, which will clearly be strictly adhered to by the CCS, the decision of the Council is outrageous and beggars belief. I hope that young people will be well enough informed about the Church’s stance to give the CCS a very wide berth indeed.”