01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, April 15, 2006

The unfortunate decision by Catholic Charities to end its Massachusetts adoption program makes clear that the gay-rights struggle will not be limited to marriage. Catholic Charities, a branch of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, had been arranging adoptions for nearly two decades -- admirable work from nearly any point of view.

Of the agency's 720 adoptions, only 13 were to gay parents. Yet the Catholic Church's teachings condemn homosexuality. And when the adoptions became known to the Vatican, the archdiocese was told they had to end. Ordinarily, the church has the right to practice its beliefs. But adoption is regulated by the state: Catholic Charities was working under contract with Massachusetts. Rejecting gays and lesbians as parents would have put the agency in conflict with the state's anti-discrimination laws.

It is a shame that, rather than continue caring for children, Catholic Charities opted to close up shop. First, though, the archdiocese sought an exemption from the anti-discrimination laws, a move that prompted seven members of the agency's board to resign. In a move that might play well in a GOP presidential campaign, Gov. Mitt Romney proposed changing the law to accommodate the church. (That might have kept Catholic Charities doing its good work with adoptions, but it would sanction discrimination, which is wrong.)

Massachusetts is not alone in contending with this question. Florida, Mississippi, and Utah ban various forms of gay adoption, while a handful of other states follow practices restricting it. Last year, measures outlawing gay adoption were introduced in seven states.

Yet over the long run, gay adoptions will probably become routine. So many children, especially those in foster care, desperately need someone to love them. Waiting for the "correct" setting, and cycling through one home after another, can do more harm than good. Very often, gays and lesbians have taken in special-needs children whom other people reject.

More fundamentally, though, the evidence that children are worse off with gay parents simply seems to be lacking. The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a major organization, has come out squarely in favor of gay adoptions, noting that studies show no substantial problems for the children.

Fortunately, polls show Americans' views are broadening. A study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that in 1999, 57 percent of those surveyed were against gay adoption; more recently, the resistance had declined to just 48 percent.

With so many children in need, it makes no sense to limit the supply of potential parents.