With more than 8,000 children living in Oregon foster care, with 200 awaiting adoption, one might think state officials would jump at the opportunity to place a child in a loving home. Jessica Bates, a mother of 5 in southeast Oregon, hoped to provide just that to a child in need.
State officials, however, appear to have implemented a last-minute religious litmus test for adoption, preventing Bates from starting a family.
“While Bates’s Christian faith is the reason she felt called to adopt in the first place, that same faith is the reason she is not being allowed to, according to a lawsuit filed Monday,” National Review reported. “According to the lawsuit, state officials denied Bates’s application to adopt, not because of a lack of financial resources or any history of abuse or neglect, but because she acknowledged that her Christian faith informs her that gender and sex aren’t a choice.”
Bates claims her application was rejected because she is unwilling to use pronouns that contradict biological sex. Bates also said she would refuse to bring a child to medical appointments for cross-sex hormone treatments. Such treatments for minors with permanent implications are banned or restricted in 11 states. Lawmakers in at least 19 more are considering similar legislation.
“The state then put Jessica to a choice: abandon your religious convictions or forgo the possibility of ever adopting any child,” the lawsuit reads. “When Jessica stood her ground, the Department rejected her application for not meeting its ‘adoption home
