Lesbian Who Sued Government Can Become Foster Parent
metroweekly.comvoluntarily dismissed her lawsuit last week, while reserving the right to sue in the future if similar restrictions are reintroduced at a later point in time.
She is currently in the process of becoming a licensed foster parent.“Providing a loving, nurturing home for a refugee child is my desire,” Easter said in a statement. “All qualified individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, should be encouraged to adopt, so these children may receive the best possible chance at finding a stable home.
This is what I’ve wanted all along.”Americans United and Lambda Legal celebrated the USCCB’s evolution with respect to Easter serving as a foster parent, but noted that the USCCB’s decision to drop its opposition marks only a partial victory for the larger LGBTQ community, because the USCCB still refuses to place children with legally married same-sex couples.Both organizations are currently waging a separate lawsuit on behalf of Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin, a lesbian couple in Texas who were rejected by a USCCB sub-grantee when they applied to foster refugee children.
The reason given for the rejection was that Marouf and Esplin’s home life “didn’t mirror the Holy Family.”“This is a win for for religious freedom, Kelly Easter and the vulnerable refugee children she’ll now be able to help,” Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement. “But it’s a victory that should not have taken two years to achieve.“The federal government should never allow a taxpayer-funded agency to discriminate against prospective foster parents because they don’t live according to its religious beliefs,” Laser added.
