A widowed Oregon mother of five who hoped to give a home to a child in foster care and says she was shut out of the process after telling state officials her Christian beliefs prevented her from affirming a child’s gender transition has reached a settlement with the state allowing her to continue pursuing adoption.Jessica Bates told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday that she completed Oregon’s foster care training after deciding to pursue adoption, but raised what she described as conflicts of conscience with requirements concerning gender identity and the care of children who identify as LGBTQ+."In the training, the state wanted me to be willing to put pride flags around the house or if a child should come into my care that didn't identify as binary or whatnot, then I would need to affirm their identity, use their preferred pronouns, support this behavior even if it conflicted with my faith and what I hold to be true," Bates said.CHRISTIAN LIFEGUARD WHO REFUSED PRIDE FLAG DUTIES AND WAS SUSPENDED IS NOW HEADED TOWARD TRIALJessica Bates, a widowed mother of five who hoped to give a home to a child in foster care, says she was shut out of the process after telling state officials her Christian beliefs prevented her from affirming a child’s gender transition.(Alliance Defending Freedom)"When I was on the phone call with them a few months later, they basically kind of set up the litmus test that, ‘OK, well, what if we place a child in your care who wants to transition from one sex to the other, and we want — we need you to take this child to hormone injection appointments.
Would you be willing to do that?,’" Bates said they asked."And that was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back, because I absolutely would not be willing to do that."Bates began the process to become certified to adopt in March 2022 from Oregon’s foster care system, but in September 2022 she was denied her application by Oregon due to her religious beliefs, according t...