LONDON (RNS) A British legal tribunal has ruled that Roman Catholic and other adoption charities must accept same-sex couples as adoptive parents or risk going out of business.

The decision by the Charity Tribunal means that some agencies, including the respected Catholic Care charity, will have to choose between their religious principles or abandoning their adoption services.

The tribunal is an independent body set up to rule on decisions of the Charity Commission, the legal regulator of charities in England and Wales.

The adoption charities are credited with finding homes for hundreds of children each year, but the tribunal’s action means they will be breaking the law if they continue to refuse to allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt.

In the U.S., Catholic Charities of Boston halted 103 years of adoption services in 2006 rather than comply with a Massachusetts law that makes it illegal to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.

Much of the legal fight is rooted in the British government’s Sexual Orientation Regulations of 2007, which state that no organization or company may discriminate against gays.

The Catholic Diocese of Leeds, England, said in a statement that “it seems likely that the charities will need to close their adoption services, and a flagship service of the charities will be lost.”

“We are concerned about the possible impact this will have on potential adoptive parents and children,” the diocese added.