Oregon denies Christian mother’s adoption request over stance on gender

A mother of five, Jessica Bates, who is a devout Christian, has sued the state of Oregon over its alleged refusal to allow her to adopt another child due to her conservative views on gender. Bates wanted to adopt another child, as she saw it as her Christian duty. However, her request was rejected since she refused to comply with a stipulation that demanded that the adopting parents “respect, accept, and support… the sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression” of children, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) that is representing Bates in the case Bates v. Pakseresht.

The ADF filed the lawsuit on Bates’ behalf, alleging that the state is violating her First Amendment rights.

In an interview with Fox News, Bates said, “I reported to my certifier because they really emphasized the sexual orientation and gender identity training, that you have to support it. I emailed her and told her I couldn’t do that because of my faith, and then we had a phone call, and because I wouldn’t take a child for cross-sex hormone injections, I was basically told that I’m ineligible to adopt in the state of Oregon.” Bates claimed in the lawsuit that compulsive training meetings with Oregon’s Resource and Adoptive Family Training (RAFT) urged potential parents to “use a child’s preferred pronouns, take a child to affirming events like Pride parades, or sign the child up for dangerous pharmaceutical interventions like puberty blockers and hormone shots.”

ADF senior counsel, Jonathan Scruggs, described RAFT’s policy as an “ideological litmus test.” He stated, “Oregon’s policy amounts to an ideological litmus test: people who hold secular or ‘progressive’ views on sexual orientation and gender identity are eligible to participate in child welfare programs, while people of faith with religiously informed views are disqualified because they don’t agree with the state’s orthodoxy. The government can’t exclude certain communities of faith from foster care and adoption services because the state doesn’t like their particular religious beliefs.”

ADF is a non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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