wfn.org | Lawsuit charges discrimination at Georgia children's home

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 13, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-28-71B{361}

By Alice M. Smith*

ATLANTA (UMNS) -- A lawsuit has been filed against the United Methodist
Children's Home in Decatur, Ga., charging that it discriminates in
employment practices while receiving state funding to care for children
placed in its care.

The children's home had yet not been served with the lawsuit and could not
comment on it.

"We can't really say anything at this point because we don't have the
complaint, and we don't know all of the issues involved or what's alleged,"
said the Rev. Richard Puckett, director of development at the home and a
former attorney who has been designated spokesman in the case.

However, Lambda Legal, a national organization that litigates for the rights
of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people and persons with AIDS,
distributed a nationwide release Aug. 1, announcing the filing of the
lawsuit by seven Georgia taxpayers, including a lesbian youth counselor and
a Jewish psychologist who said they were denied the right to work at the
home because of sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

The case could have ramifications not only for the Decatur children's home
but also for numerous other religious-related agencies that provide services
to the public and receive government funding. The lawsuit could also impact
the Bush administration's faith-based initiatives effort, which is
advocating more federal funding to religious-related groups that provide
social services.

The legal process will likely be a lengthy one, Puckett said. From the time
the home is served the complaint, it will have 30 days to respond, and
"along with the complaint we'll have a bunch of questions we'll have to
answer. ... We'll respond to the complaint and to the questions, and then
there will be a whole period of discovery, possibly more interrogatories and
depositions that will go on for several months. There's likely to be a
hearing about one thing or another trying to challenge certain aspects of
the case ... long before it gets to trial."
	
The home's primary concern, at this point and in the future, is caring for
the abused and emotionally disturbed children placed in its care. "We want
to continue to care for our children and provide the best care we can for
them even in the midst (of the litigation)," Puckett said.

The home receives funding from the state of Georgia to care for the children
placed there by the state, and that support accounts for about 40 percent of
the home's budget, Puckett said.  However, this "per diem" rate for each
child only covers about half the cost of caring for the child, including
providing a place to live with constant qualified adult supervision and the
many services disturbed children need to help them become fully functioning
members of society.

According to Lambda supervising attorney Susan Sommer, "The state must hold
the United Methodist Children's Home accountable and stop funding the home
as long as it continues to use tax dollars to force its religious beliefs on
young people in state custody and to discriminate in employment."

In addition to Aimee Bellmore, the counselor allegedly fired because she is
a lesbian, and Alan Yorker, a therapist who says he was denied employment at
the home because he is Jewish, the five other plaintiffs in the case are:
Stephanie Swann, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia School
for Social Work and founder of YouthPride Inc. in Atlanta; Rabbi Joshua
Lesser of Bet Haverim in Decatur; Thomas Morton, president of the Child
Welfare Institute in Duluth, Ga.; the Rev. Harry Pritchett of All Saints
Episcopal Church in Atlanta; and Gloria Rutherford, mother of a gay teen-age
son and a board member of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays.

Formed in 1871 to care for Civil War orphans, the children's home houses 70
youth on its residential campus in Decatur and offers a number of other
services to children and families.

# # #

*Smith is editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the newspaper of the
United Methodist Church's North and South Georgia annual conferences.

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United Methodist News Service
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