State of massachusetts rejected their application over religious beliefs and now they are suing the commonwealth over it. Im john roberts, welcome to wednesday. Gillian nice to be here on a beautiful blue sky day. John what a picture. Gillian im Gillian Turner in for sandra smith. Kitty and mike burke say they were turned down because of adherence to catholic teachings, a letter says they would not be affirming to a child who identified as lgbtqia plus. Comes as they struggle to accommodate 1500 children in the foster care system. Chief religion correspondent lauren green has been looking into all of this and joins us from new york. The issue is, can a secular government prevent someone from participating fully in a community because of their religious beliefs. Now, the Supreme Court has actually ruled in favor of religion in a similar case about two years ago. But the burkes say this has been devastating for them, saying massachusetts would rather children sleep in the hallways of hos
for parents. we have heard from parents who are also against it, and we had a very, very contentious board of ed meeting. many activists showed up, not necessarily from our town but other places in the state. very contentious. people are concerned this policy will somehow harm trans children and i think speaking for myself and our policy committee we were all more concerned that there could be negative tragic outcome and a parent would have never been alerted that there might have been a crisis with their child or need, their child needed mental health help. john: the first point you made, what the attorney general of new jersey said in regard to the safety issue. said outing transgender, gender nonconforming and gender non-binary students against their will, increased risk of student and shirks the district s duty to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all. it s interesting, my wife and i
Maryland leaders intend to increase education funding for school districts across the state. But county leaders want more say in how those dollars are spent.
some of the issues the occupy movement is raising about what is the place of the public in a corporate-run state? yet, you know, you ask where it goes next. this is way beyond the park. and at the very same time as this was happening yesterday on the west coast, here in new york you had over 100 educators and advocates and teachers and students taking over a board of ed meeting to raise issues about austerity and education. today there were marches going to the heart of the health care private insurance system. coming from occupy wall street to their headquarters. and right now, you re absolutely right. all across the country are planned demonstrations, 9:00 p.m. eastern in solidarity with what happened in oakland. so this is way beyond the park in terms of physical issues. and it s way beyond the frustration that the president s talking about. it s about empowerment. if you haven t seen the 8-year-old who talked yesterday at the board of ed meeting, you have to watch it. the people s