Christian single mother Jessica Bates was "shocked" when Oregon denied her adoption application because she did not support medically transitioning children, she told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.
Bates, a mother of five, was looking to adopt a "sibling pair" in 2022 six years after her husband died in a car accident, saying to the DCNF that she felt it was a "calling from God," but after going through the application process, state officials with the Department of Human Services explained that she would need to agree to support any adopted child's desire to have a gender transition.
As a Christian, Bates told the DCNF that she knew this requirement was "denying reality" as well as her faith, and filed a lawsuit with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) against the state in April after they reportedly prevented her from moving forward in the process.
"I think everybody was just really shocked at first that, you know, gender ideology would be the reason why we wouldn't be able to adopt," Bates told the DCNF. READ MORE