Widowed Oregon mom of five Jessica Bates won a huge victory from the 9th Circuit Court when it ruled Oregon's policy, which prevented Bates from adopting foster kids because she wouldn't buy into the state's insanity on gender ideology, violated her First Amendment rights.
In a post on Thursday on X, President and CEO of ADF Legal Kristen Waggoner celebrated their client Jessica's victory after she was barred from "adopting a foster child-regardless of the child's age or beliefs—because she wouldn't promise to affirm gender ideology."
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HUGE WIN at the 9th Circuit for our client Jessica Bates! This widowed Oregon mom was categorically barred from adopting a foster child—regardless of the child’s age or beliefs—because she wouldn’t promise to affirm gender ideology.
— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) July 24, 2025
The 9th Circuit ruled that Oregon’s policy… pic.twitter.com/OKqM3gf9IP
"The 9th Circuit ruled that Oregon's policy likely violates Jessica's First Amendment rights to free speech & religious liberty," the statement read. "The state must immediately stop enforcing this unconstitutional policy against her, because it served as a de facto ban on parents of certain faiths from Oregon's adoption & foster care system."
"These policies are all too common in left-leaning states—and they harm children who need loving families more than anyone else," the statement added. "@ADFLegal is currently litigating similar cases in VT and WA."
"We're thrilled that Jessica's courageous stand has resulted in this win at the 9th Circuit," the statement continued. "We pray it will lead to more victories for children [and] families. Gender ideology should never block loving parents from helping children in need."
A press release delved into the ruling Bates v. Pakseresht further by the federal appeals court, which ruled that "No one thinks, for example, that a state could exclude parents from adopting foster children based on those parents' political views, race, or religious affiliations."
"Adoption is not a constitutional law dead zone," it added. "And 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."
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ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs, who argued before the court on behalf of Bates, said, "Because caregivers like Jessica cannot promote Oregon's dangerous gender ideology to young kids and take them to events like pride parades, the state considers them to be unfit parents."
"That is false and incredibly dangerous, needlessly depriving kids of opportunities to find a loving home," he added. "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."
Bates' victory comes amid her lawsuit against state officials after they refused to let her adopt foster kids, the press release noted.
Bates applied to become certified to adopt children from foster care two years ago. Oregon's DHS, the agency that oversees child welfare programs, denied her application because Bates could not agree to use inaccurate pronouns to refer to a child or to take children to pride parades.
Although Bates told ODHS officials that she would happily love and accept any child placed with her, officials rejected her application, making her ineligible to adopt any child—even infants or children who share her religious beliefs.
In a Fox News piece in 2023, Jessica explained that her husband was killed in a car collision" six years earlier. After she and her kids walked through the grief, they came out on the other side wanting to open her "home to kids in need" and give back after all the love and support they had received.
The Oregon victory follows another recent victory for team sanity when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Mahmoud v. Taylor to allow parents to opt their kids out of the insanity of gender ideology being pushed in schools, as my RedState colleague Sister Toldjah wrote.
In a 6-3 decision, SCOTUS decided that parents do have the right to opt their elementary school-aged (pre-K through 8th grade) children out of classroom instruction that may include materials on gender and sexuality. The three dissenters were Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito states that the parents involved were likely to succeed in their claim that the school system, by not allowing the opt-out on LGBTQ-themed classroom activities, was an unconstitutional burden on their religious liberties.
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