After a three-year legal battle, Oregon has settled with Christian mother Jessica Bates, who was denied the opportunity to adopt children from foster care after refusing to comply with state requirements concerning sexual orientation and gender identity. Bates, a widowed mother of five, began the adoption-certification process in 2022 hoping to adopt siblings, but her Christian beliefs came into conflict with an Oregon Department of Human Services policy requiring prospective parents to “respect, accept, and support” a child’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Bates objected specifically to using pronouns inconsistent with biological sex and taking a child to medical appointments for a gender transition. Oregon subsequently denied her application. After years of litigation, however, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2025 that the policy violated the First Amendment as applied to Bates, and a new settlement now allows her to continue pursuing foster care and adoption without being excluded because of those religious convictions.
The case matters beyond one Oregon family because it raises a fundamental question about the boundaries between religious liberty, child-welfare policy, and government participation requirements. Oregon maintains that foster and adoptive families must support the “whole identity” of children in state care, including their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, and supporters of such policies argue that LGBTQ+ foster children can be particularly vulnerable and need affirming homes. Bates, however, maintained that she could love and care for any child without being required to speak or act contrary to her Christian understanding of human sexuality. The Ninth Circuit concluded that Oregon could protect children from mistreatment but could not constitutionally require Bates to affirm particular views on gender as the price of being considered for adoption. Following the litigation, Oregon removed the disputed affirmation language from its foster-parent requirements, while continuing to require families to meet children's individual needs.
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