The details are more complicated. Religious work in this sphere goes back centuries, and CSS says the first Catholic orphanage in Philadelphia dates to 1798. Today about two dozen agencies facilitate foster care. For decades, that included CSS. It serves all children, regardless of sexuality. If a gay couple were to ask for a home study, CSS would refer them elsewhere. “But the record shows,” it says, “that no same-sex couple had ever approached CSS in this way.”
The genesis of the case was a Philadelphia Inquirer article in 2018 that highlighted the CSS policy. Soon thereafter, CSS says a city official pushed it to change its approach, saying that it’s “not 100 years ago” and urging it to follow “the teachings of Pope Francis.” The official, according to the city, is also Catholic and was merely trying to find common ground.
When CSS refused to budge, the city froze its foster referrals and its contract was allowed to expire. An appeals court sided with the city, saying that CSS is owed no exemption, since the nondiscrimination policy is “a neutral, generally applicable law.” The precedent here is the 1990 ruling in Employment Division v. Smith, in which a Native American was denied state benefits after using peyote in a ritual.