A federal court in April ruled that a Christian couple who sued Washington state’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families over violating their freedom of speech “alleged sufficient facts to show a First Amendment violation unless the government can satisfy strict scrutiny.”
Strict scrutiny, the highest level of judicial review, is difficult to satisfy.
The state barred the DeGrosses from receiving a license to foster children in need because their Christian faith conflicts with bearing false witness and affirming children’s mental health issues — in particular, pretending to be the opposite sex.
After that ruling, it was only a matter of time before the state did the right thing. We can strongly assume the state’s lawyers did not want to argue in a court of law that discriminating against Christians was a righteous cause.
The state settled, agreeing to drop the policy so that religious couples can obtain licenses to protect and care for children in their homes. From Alliance Defending Freedom (emphasis added):
As part of the settlement agreement, DCYF officials will revise their licensing policies to respect all religious families’ deeply held convictions and won’t “attach[] any conditions or restrictions to the license solely because of their religious beliefs, including speech and actions pertaining to marriage, gender, or sexual relationships.” State officials also agreed to pay $250,000 in attorneys’ fees to settle the case, DeGross v. Senn.
Leftists love to pay lip service to “diversity,” but being conservative or a Christian does not add to this supposed virtue.
“Washington’s policy failed to respect religious diversity because it singled out applicants with traditional religious beliefs on the sanctity of the human body,” said Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom. “The DeGrosses merely asked to be treated the same as any other family—without being asked to compromise their core beliefs.”
Widmalm-Delphonse added that the settlement “is a win-win because it will ensure more families can serve as foster parents to help meet the needs of every precious child in Washington’s foster-care system.”
Photo credit: Alliance Defending Freedom
