The US Supreme Court is about to start hearing oral arguments in a case about whether foster care agencies can discriminate against LGBT+ people, Jews or Mormons.
However the case – Fulton v City of Philadelphia – could have far wider implications. It could give religious government contractors the right to discriminate in services from soup kitchens to homeless shelters to refugee resettlement to disaster relief.
The case dates back to March 2018. That month, the city of Philadelphia discovered two of the agencies it hired to provide foster care services to children in the city’s care would not, based on their religious objection, accept same-sex couples as foster parents.