A Bill protecting Christian adoption agencies and families in Arkansas from discrimination on the grounds of biblical sexual ethics has been signed into law.
Under the Keep Kids First Act, organisations or individuals cannot be required to endorse same-sex marriage or transgender ideology for the purposes of fostering or adoption.
In 2023, Roman Catholic couple Mike and Kitty Burke’s application to foster was denied by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) because they “would not be affirming to a child who identified as LGBTQIA”.
‘Loving homes’
The new legislation also forbids the state from requiring any adoption or foster agency to place a child in a situation that would violate the agency’s “sincerely held religious or moral beliefs”. This means, for example, an evangelical Christian agency could not be forced to place a child with a same-sex or unmarried couple.
It also prohibits officials from disqualifying a “prospective foster or preadoptive parent for any particular placement based in whole or in part on the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs regarding sexual orientation or gender identity”.
Welcoming the new protections, religious liberty group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said the legislation ensured “families and faith-based adoption and foster care organizations who want to provide loving homes for kids are not pushed out because of their religious or moral beliefs”.
Greg Chafuen, Senior Counsel for ADF, said the Act would enable more families to “open their hearts and homes to children in need of a safe and loving environment”.
Religious beliefs
Last year, the Burkes appeared in court to challenge the decision of Massachusetts DCF to exclude them from fostering because of their deeply held religious beliefs on sexual ethics and gender.
According to court papers, during the application process the Burkes shared their beliefs “that marriage is between a woman and a man and that sexual relations are to be kept within the bounds of such a marriage”.
They also told the assessor representing the DCF, who interviewed them in their own home, that due to their “religious beliefs, they would not assist a medical gender transition for a hypothetical future child”.
Their application was subsequently rejected by the DCF, “based on the couple’s statements/responses regarding placement of children who identified LGBTQIA”.
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