A federal appeals court has blocked an Oregon law that required foster and adoptive parents to affirm LGBTQ+ ideology, following a legal challenge supported by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and 19 other states.
Attorney General Wilson said, “This is a big win for parents’ rights, religious freedom, and free speech. When there are children in need of foster homes, a state shouldn’t disqualify foster parents just because they refuse to disavow their religious beliefs.”
The case began when the Oregon Department of Human Services implemented rules mandating all prospective foster parents to pledge to “respect,” “accept,” and “support” the sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression of foster children. Jessica Bates applied to adopt children but was denied under this policy due to her religious objections to using adopted children’s preferred pronouns or participating in their medical appointments for gender transitions. As a result, she was barred from adopting any child in state care.
Bates filed suit against the state over these requirements. In May 2024, South Carolina joined with 18 other state attorneys general and the Arizona State Legislature in submitting a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Bates’ request for the court to block the rules.
Although a district court initially declined to block Oregon’s rules, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit later ruled in favor of Bates and issued an injunction against enforcing them. The appeals court found that Bates was likely to succeed on her claims regarding free speech and religious freedom violations and ordered that she not be deemed ineligible as an adoptive parent based on these grounds.
You can read the opinion here.
