from Life News
A federal district court ruled Wednesday that a Washington state licensing rule requiring foster parents to socially “transition” foster children plausibly violates the First Amendment.
The ruling comes in a lawsuit brought by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys on behalf of Shane and Jennifer DeGross. Washington state officials declined to issue a standard foster-care license to the couple because of their religious objections to socially or medically “transitioning” children. In its decision, the court denied state officials’ request to dismiss the case, allowing the DeGrosses to continue their lawsuit.
“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. “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. Washington should take the hint: it needs to end its unconstitutional and discriminatory policy.”