The war on Christians is on steroids in the Pacific Northwest. Sierra Dawn McClain describes in the March 23/24 Wall Street Journal how gender ideology is being used to "cleanse" the foster care system of Christian foster parents in Washington and Oregon.
To get a license in Washington state, foster parents must agree to "connect a foster child with resources that support and affirm their needs regarding race, religion, culture and SOGIE." SOGIE is an acronym for "sexual orientation and gender identity/expression."
The Washington state regulations make it clear what "support and affirm" means. It includes displaying LGBTQIA+ flags in the home, exposing the children to homosexual authors, artists, and musicians, and, importantly, providing "affirming medical care" for the foster child.
The phrase "affirming medical care" always refers to puberty-blocking hormones and/or disfiguring surgeries, including castration and mastectomies for children who think they are in the wrong body.
Oregon has gone down the same road with regulations requiring foster parents to buy into the LGBTQIA+ agenda no matter what the consequences are for the children. Effectively, Christians who take their faith seriously could not be foster parents in either state.
The good news is that our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom are representing Christian parents seeking legal redress in both states.
The bad news is that so much of our country is in the grip of progressive ideology at every level of government that endangers our children and threatens religious liberty.