Pushing back against the Biden administration’s radical identity politics, 19 state attorneys general and numerous conservative and religious organizations last week stood up for religious liberty and for long-standing, effective child adoption services. Good. The Biden proposal at issue is pernicious.
As succinctly put by Advancing American Freedom , a think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, the proposal “would violate the religious freedom of foster care families and ultimately make the shortage of families working within the foster care system worse.”
Nov. 27 was the deadline for comments about the “Safe and Appropriate Foster Care Placement Requirements,” a rule proposed by President Joe Biden’s Administration for Children and Families, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It is yet another manifestation of the Left’s obsession with sexual behaviors and “identities.”
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The regulation would put children in charge: No matter the child’s biology or anatomy, his or her “self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression” would rule the day. Adoption and foster care organizations that do not agree to be “trained” — that is, refuse to be indoctrinated — to comply with the “name and pronouns that align with [children’s] gender identity,” no matter how fleeting or ill-considered, will be banned from providing services to homeless children labeled “LGBTQI+.” If readers cross-refer supporting documents cited for the proposed, it is clear that the required “support” presumes a bias in favor of chemical and surgical transitioning procedures.
Most faith-based adoption agencies reject the transgender assault on chromosomal and anatomical reality, which often does lasting harm . Yet they make up 40% of government-contracted child placement agencies. In some states, either most, in the case of New Mexico, all, private placement agencies are Christian. Observant Christians are three times more likely than the general population to consider fostering children.
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As the attorneys general also write , the religious-liberty implications of the proposed rule are profound: “This proposed rule seeks to accomplish indirectly what the Supreme Court found unconstitutional just two years ago: remove faith-based providers from the foster care system if they will not conform their religious beliefs on sexual orientation and gender identity.” And: “The proposed rule is unconstitutional because it discriminates against individuals and organizations of faith who want to serve children in the foster care system. The proposed rule also unconstitutionally forces [so-called gender-affirming] speech on foster providers.”
For good measure, say the top state legal officers, the proposal also would violate the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
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Isn’t finding a loving surrogate family the main point of adoption and foster care?
Willingness to love a child, not subscription to misconceived leftist gender ideology, is what makes a good adoptive or foster family. For the government to force out faith-based institutions and families would create a dystopian world in which sexuality crowds out what is fully human.
* Original Article:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/bidens-war-on-faith-and-family-continues