A Christian woman in Oregon blocked from adopting foster children because she wouldn't comply with a state policy requiring support of a child's gender identity earned a victory in federal court Thursday.
A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the Oregon Department of Human Services' policy that prospective parents must "respect, accept and support" the sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression of children in its care violated Jessica Bates' First Amendment protections of speech and religion.
Bates, a widowed mother of five biological children living in Vale in eastern Oregon, applied in 2022 to become certified to adopt two siblings under age 9 from foster care. But the state Department of Human Services denied her application, according to court records, because Bates would not agree to using a child's preferred pronouns, allowing a child to dress and express themselves in accordance with their gender identity, or taking the child to events such as Pride parades.
"I have no problem loving them and accepting them as they are, but I would not encourage them in this behavior," Bates wrote to her certifier on Aug. 9, 2022, when asked how she felt her training went. "I believe God gives us our gender/sex and it's not something we get to choose. Basically, my faith conflicts with this and I just felt that I needed to let you know."
In April 2023, Bates sued the state after her certification was rejected, but U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson ruled against her, writing: "This Court questions whether plaintiff's willingness to 'love and support' a child is sufficient to ensure that the child will feel loved and supported."
But Ninth Circuit Judges Daniel Aaron Bress and Michael Daly Hawkins said although they recognized Oregon's efforts to promote the health and safety of LGBTQ children in foster care, the state regulation was too broad because it prevented Bates from serving as a foster parent to any child.
"No one thinks, for example, that a state could exclude parents from adopting foster children based on those parents' political views, race, or religious affiliations," Bress wrote for the majority. "Adoption is not a constitutional law dead zone. And a state's general conception of the child's best interest does not create a force field against the valid operation of other constitutional rights."
The majority ordered Nelson to issue a preliminary injunction barring the state Department of Human Services from using the rule to determine Bates' eligibility to become a foster parent.
In the dissenting opinion, Judge Richard Clifton defended the state's rule as regulating the conduct of foster parents, not their speech.
Jonathan Scruggs, senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy for Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Bates, said in a statement that Bates "is now free to adopt after Oregon officials excluded her because of her common-sense belief that a girl cannot become a boy or vice versa."
"Because caregivers like Jessica cannot promote Oregon's dangerous gender ideology to young kids and take them to events like pride parades, the state considers them to be unfit parents," Scruggs said. "That is false and incredibly dangerous, needlessly depriving kids of opportunities to find a loving home."
Jenny Hansson, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice, told The Oregonian/OregonLive: "We are disappointed in the ruling but are reviewing to determine next steps."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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