Happy Holy Week: Oregon Bans Christian from Adopting Due to Anti-LGBT Beliefs

Today is Good Friday, but for one mother, it’s not so good. A Christian mother was recently told by the state of Oregon that she could not adopt, because her religious beliefs prevent her from endorsing LGBTQ ideology.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announcedApril 3 that its attorneys had filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Jessica Bates, a widowed mother of five who wanted “to adopt siblings from foster care.” Unfortunately for Bates, Oregon demands prospective adoptive parents “respect, accept, and support … the sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression” of any kid. In other words, unless you agree that boys can wear dresses and girls can get double mastectomies if they feel male, you can’t adopt children in Oregon. That excludes any Christians who stick to the Bible and traditional teaching.

So the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), which administers state child welfare programs, denied Bates’s application.