![Jessica Bates, a widowed mother of five, is suing state and county officials in Oregon for refusing to provide her with the necessary certification to become an adoptive parent due to her religious beliefs that prevent her from abiding by a state law requiring prospective parents to “respect, accept and support” the “sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression” of the children they seek to adopt.](https://www.conservdailyusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Oregon-cant-stop-Christian-mom-from-adopting-appeals-court.jpg)
Oregon officials cannot prevent a conservative Christian mother from adopting solely because she objects to LGBT ideology, a federal appeals court panel has ruled.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Thursday that Jessica Bates was wrongfully denied an adoption application by the Oregon Department of Human Services, reversing a lower court decision.
Circuit Judge Daniel A. Bress, a Trump appointee, authored the majority opinion, writing that Oregon was wrong to require adoptive parents to agree to “respect, accept, and support” the self-identified gender identity and sexual orientation of a child.
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“We hold that Oregon’s policy violates the First Amendment as applied to Bates. We reverse the district court’s denial of preliminary injunctive relief and direct that a preliminary injunction be entered,” wrote Bress.
Bress said that adoption is “not a constitutional law dead zone” and that “a state’s general conception of the child’s best interest does not create a force field against the valid operation of other constitutional rights.”
“Oregon’s rule, as reflected in the [Resource and Adoptive Families Training] materials, quite clearly restricts and compels speech based on both content and viewpoint,” he continued.
“The situation would be no different if the state had restricted parental speech favoring more ‘progressive’ views of sexuality and gender identity, while compelling speech along the lines of Bates’s more traditional understanding.”
Circuit Judge Richard R. Clifton, a George W. Bush appointee, authored a dissenting opinion, arguing that the state “should not be powerless to protect children for whom it has parental responsibility and for whom it has decided respect should be given.”
“No one should be able, as a matter of right, to require the state to turn over its wards and treat them in ways that are, in the state’s judgment, disrespectful and even dangerous,” wrote Clifton.
“Oregon has determined that the ability to respect a child’s sexual orientation and gender identity is an important qualification for a foster parent. It is not our job to quarrel with that determination.”
Jonathan Scruggs of the Alliance Defending Freedom, who argued the case on behalf of Bates, celebrated the decision.
“Jessica is a caring mom of five who is now free to adopt after Oregon officials excluded her because of her common-sense belief that a girl cannot become a boy or vice versa,” said Scruggs in a statement Thursday.
“The 9th Circuit was right to remind Oregon that the foster and adoption system is supposed to serve the best interests of children, not the state’s ideological crusade.”
Jenny Hansson, spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice, told OregonLive that state officials were “disappointed in the ruling but are reviewing to determine next steps.”
A widowed mother of five, Bates applied to receive adoptive parent certification through ODHS in May 2022 so that she could adopt two children who were under the age of nine.
However, ODHS denied her application due to her stated refusal on religious grounds to adhere trans-identified child’s preferred pronouns.
In April 2023, ADF filed a complaint on behalf of Bates against officials with ODHS and Malheur County, accusing the government entities of violating her First Amendment rights.
