Church-led children’s charities in New South Wales are allowed to block same-sex couples from fostering, the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal has reluctantly ruled.

The Catholic Church, which is currently campaigning against gay marriage in Australia, has welcomed the ruling, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The Tribunal says it is bound to accept the church’s request to limit access to fostering services to those who do not conform to its beliefs because NSW’s Anti-Discrimination Act contains broad exceptions relating to religious groups.

If a non-religious charity blocked services to someone because of their sexual orientation, that charity would be in breach of the state’s Anti-Discrimination laws.

The Tribunal suggested that Parliament may seek to revise the law to include religious groups in Anti-Discrimination rulings.

But not all churches seek to discriminate against LGBT people, and recently The Benevolent Society launched a marketing campaign targeted specifically at gay and lesbian foster carers. Same Same spoke to two same-sex couples who were keen to provide loving homes for needy kids – read about them here.