Christian foster parents sue Vermont after getting rejected for faith-based bigotry
The right-wing hate group Alliance Defending Freedom claims this is religious discrimination
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Two Christian couples are suing the state of Vermont after officials placed foster children’s best interests ahead of their faith-based bigotry.
According to the lawsuit filed last week, Brian and Katy Wuoti, along with Bryan and Rebecca Gantt, were hoping to take in more foster children. Both couples have taken in several foster children in the past.
But the Vermont Department for Children and Families revoked their foster-care licenses after the couples said they would not accommodate transgender children (or kids merely exploring their gender identities). The state recently updated its policies to require foster families to affirm those kids by, among other things, using their requested pronouns and allowing them to dress in accordance with their gender expression. Basic stuff.
The couples’ attorneys at the right-wing hate group Alliance Defending Freedom put it another way: “[T]he couples expressed their religiously inspired and widely held belief that girls cannot become boys or vice versa.” That, of course, is not how being trans works. They don’t magically flip a switch.
Vermont’s policy is sound. If children placed in the care of these couples happen to be trans, their homes simply wouldn’t be a safe place to live.
The state didn’t reject these families because they’re Christian. They rejected the families because they’re bigots. Christianity is nothing more than the excuse these couples are using to justify their anti-LGBTQ beliefs.
It’s the state’s obligation to make sure children in the foster care system are placed with families that will love and care for them unconditionally, and the Wuotis and Gantts were adamant that they were not going to be good parents to certain kids.
The Wuotis said they would refuse to affirm trans identities or attend pride parades and gave themselves a “3” on a scale of 1-5 when it came to accepting and supporting an LGBTQ foster child. Katy said she understood what they were going through because she used to have “same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria'“ but “eventually grew out of her discomfort.” (It’s not clearly if she’s confusing that with being a proverbial “tomboy.” She didn’t elaborate in the lawsuit.)
The Gantts openly said they don’t think trans people exist: They don’t believe “that gender identity can diverge from a person’s biological sex.” They added that they won’t attend pride parades or use someone’s pronouns if they don’t align with their biological sex.
(Why the mention of the pride parades? Because Vermont says caregivers must facilitate access to “LGBTQ organizations and events in the community” if the children request it. It’s telling, though, that these couples think pride parades are the only examples of such gatherings.)
Even if the couples are fine in other areas, and they certainly appear to be, the state can’t knowingly place children in homes where they would suffer even more.
It can be a frustrating balancing act because there are always children who need homes, and there are always people eager to take them in, but the state’s obligation is to protect the kids even if that means not placing them in someone else’s custody.
ADF is predictably spinning this by saying Vermont doesn’t give a shit about children.
“Vermont’s foster-care system is in crisis: There aren’t enough families to care for vulnerable kids and children born with drug dependencies have nowhere to call home. Yet Vermont is putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” said ADF Legal Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse.
It’s hard to take ADF seriously when they complain about the needs of the suffering. This is, after all, the same group that’s responsible for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the subsequent suffering of pregnant people across the country. They don’t give a damn who gets terrorized as long as their Christian-fueled hate takes priority.
ADF’s lawsuit against Vermont paints the two couples as sympathetic figures—the men are both pastors and the couples, we’re told, just hold “traditional religious beliefs about human sexuality”… which is a euphemism for being anti-trans. The same Christians said they wouldn’t stand for kids questioning their biological gender or even adopting hairstyles that didn’t conform to gender stereotypes.
Even beyond that, the couples say “they are religiously motivated to share their beliefs about our God-given human nature with their future foster or adopted children—so long as their children are willing to listen.” (Emphasis mine.) While that caveat is important, it still suggests that children who aren’t Christian would be subject to their proselytizing, at least to a point. They’re taking in potential targets, not children who simply need a safe home.
That’s why the state revoked their licenses. We know Vermont isn’t punishing them for their Christianity because there’s literally no evidence that the state refuses to put children in the homes of Christian families. There’s no religious discrimination taking place here. These couples just didn’t make the cut anymore even though they had in the past.
They’re like white high school students blaming affirmative action for why they didn’t get accepted to an elite college even though their grades were mediocre at best.
It’s not just about LGBTQ issues either. The ADF lawsuit includes lines like, “Due to their Christian beliefs, Brian and Katy cannot say or do anything that contradicts their faith.” But in Vermont, as with other states, families can also be excluded from taking in foster children if they use physical abuse to keep kids in line—something many fundamentalist Christian parents believe is necessary to raise good children. If a family is rejected for that reason, is it religious discrimination or looking out for the best interest of the kids? The fact is: Religion cannot be used as an immunity against bad behavior. (Case in point: Oregon recently cut ties with a Christian ministry that had been receiving money to house foster children after it was reported that the ministry was misusing funds and abusing children.)
The bulk of the lawsuit is spent praising the couples and relaying their qualifications, but no one’s arguing about any of that. They seem like perfectly capable parents… for kids who aren’t LGBTQ. But that’s precisely why they can’t (and shouldn’t) take in foster kids currently in the state’s care. The state has an obligation to respect anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBTQ people even if these Christian families have no intention of accepting those kids as they are (or only with large caveats).
Imagine if the state placed trans children in the Wuotis’ or Gantts’ homes and, because they deny trans identities, the children later committed self-harm. There would be outrage against the state for knowingly placing those kids in a home that was never going to accept them. Even if the odds of all that happening are minimal, the government is tasked with preventing that situation from happening to the best of their abilities. Knowing that these couples would not truly accept trans children in their homes, the state was right to reject their applications.
This is not an attack on their faith. This is a reject of two Christian couples who believe their religion should allow them to skip to the front of the line and ignore the rules that are in place for the children’s best interests.
They’re unable to accept the simple fact that they just don’t meet the requirements of the job. There’s no reason to believe a transgender child would feel accepted in their home. And given how vulnerable those children are, even in the best of circumstances, children in the foster care system need even more support and love, not less. With these families, there’s no telling how much harm would be inflicted upon those kids.
That doesn’t mean ADF will lose the case though.
They already control the majority of the Supreme Court and this is a federal lawsuit. They don’t have to be right on the merits to get the outcome they want; right-wing judges have a habit of disregarding facts that don’t line up with their predetermined decision. The Supreme Court is a glaring example of this. In 2021, in Fulton, the city of Philadelphia was forced to honor its contract with Catholic Social Services (CSS) despite the group’s refusal to work with same-sex couples. Even though the Catholic group actively discriminated against LGBTQ people, the city couldn’t cut ties with them.
If Vermont was actually discriminating against Christians, it really would be outrageous. Church/state separation groups would be first in line to sue the state. But this case, like so many conservative claims of persecution, distorts the facts to suit a right-wing agenda.
While the state officials named in the lawsuit haven’t issued a formal response yet, one person did give a statement to Vermont Public:
In a statement, [Deputy Commissioner of the DCF’s Family Services Division Aryka] Radke wrote that it “bears mentioning” that ADF’s lawsuit had been filed at the start of June, which is celebrated as the month of Pride. LGBTQI+ youth in foster care have higher than average rates of substance abuse, human trafficking, and suicide, she added, and the state's policies are meant to help improve these outcomes.
“It is a human right for all to be valued and supported, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” Radke continued. “The Family Services Division is here to serve all, and upholds that expectation for both its staff, as well as the foster parents who agree to take on the care of the youth in our custody.”
That is what loving adults says when it comes to the health and safety of LGBTQ youth. It’s the sort of love that the Wuotis and Gantts don’t understand—and refuse to understand—because their Christian faith commands them to do the opposite.
(Portions of this article were published earlier)
I disagree that they would be good parents for children that are not LGBTQ. Children need to learn to get along with others, not decide that anyone different is someone to hate.
People who see their religion as the answer to every question are almost always completely oblivious to the horrors that have been justified in the name of religion. It is NEVER the job of our secular government to backstop anyone's religion.