Oregon Mom Sues State for Denying Adoption Over Stance on Trans Procedures

An Oregon mother of five is suing the state for denying her adoption application due to her religious beliefs concerning gender ideology.

Jessica Bates filed a federal complainst against the Oregon Department of Human Services after her adoption application was rejected. Bates alleges that she was denied because of her beliefs against sex-change treatments for children, which conflicted with state law requiring foster parents to respect the “gender expression” of adopted children, according to Fox News.

When a state official asked Bates if she would favor giving sex-change hormones to a child, she responded that she considered it to be child abuse. She later received a denial letter, which informed her that her beliefs clashed with Oregon’s state law on foster adoptions.

Bates wrote to the official, “I have no problem loving them and accepting them as they are, but I would not encourage them in this behavior. I believe God gives us our gender/sex, and it’s not something we get to choose.”

“Oregon is putting its political agenda above the needs of countless children who would be happy to grow up in a loving, Christian home like Jessica’s,” said Bates’s legal counsel.

This complaint has emerged amid nationwide debates over cross-sex medical procedures for children. Recently, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) refused the claim of Chaya Raichik, the creator of “Libs of TikTok,” that Boston Children’s Hospital conducted hysterectomies on minors, attributing it to “prominent far-right influences,” according to Fox News.

Last month, a Department of Health and Human Services’ official Rachel Levine showed support for “gender affirming care” for minors and expressed optimism that it would become normalized. The legislation was enacted in Arkansas, allowing patients who had undergone gender treatments as a minor to sue their doctors. In West Virginia, a total ban on gender treatments for minors was implemented last week.

The Oregon Department of Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.