A Christian couple in Washington State advanced in its fight to remain as licensed foster parents and shun gender ideology.
By Catholics for Catholics
A Christian couple in Washington State advanced in its fight to remain as licensed foster parents and shun gender ideology, when a federal court in Washington rejected a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the pair who say they were denied an unrestricted foster license by the state because they wouldn’t adhere to LGBT ideology.
According to a story by The Christian Post, in an opinion published Wednesday, Judge David G. Estudillo of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington rejected a motion by the state to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Jennifer and Shane DeGross over the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families’ refusal to grant them a full foster care license.
“In essence, the Department has forced the DeGrosses to choose between forfeiting their freedom of speech to obtain an unrestricted license, or upholding their beliefs surrounding [Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression], and receiving a less-favorable license subject to certain requirements,” Estudillo, a Biden appointee, stated.
The court’s conclusion that the free speech and free exercise claims have merit will permit the couple to file an amended complaint by May 13, allowing the lawsuit to continue.
“The DeGrosses have carried their burden to show that the Department’s enforcement of
Policy § 1520 plausibly constitutes impermissible viewpoint discrimination,” the judge wrote.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the nonprofit legal organization which represents the DeGrosses, is optimistic that the policy will in the end be found unconstitutional.
“When children are sleeping on cots in child-welfare offices for lack of loving homes, states like Washington should be doing everything they can to bring in more qualified foster parents,” said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse in a statement reacting to the ruling. “But Washington state is putting its own ideological agenda ahead of children’s needs, even though a federal court already enjoined a similarly unconstitutional policy in 2021.”
The DeGrosses served as foster parents in Washington from 2013 to 2022. But when they sought to renew their license in 2022, they became aware of the state’s requirement that foster parents provide children “with resources that supports and affirms their needs regarding” sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and agree to use trans-identified children’s “pronouns and chosen name, and respect the child’s right to privacy concerning their [gender identity].”
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