Christian foster parents sue Vermont after getting rejected for faith-based bigotry (Livestream) 

Yes the process of adopting a kid is not like the process of buying a pet and it's not that simple or easy.

But not every kid is gay or trans. Not allowing certain kids to live with them makes sense. However taking them out of the system entirely is dumb.

@muadhnate Do you really want to have parents who are racist and homophobic being the ones to raise and to influence kids?Homophobic racist and bigoted parents are a bad influence on kids that's part of the problem.

​@@muadhnateand what about a kid thats neither gay nore trans, but simply atheistic? You just cannot trust religious people to keep their brainwashing tactics out of caring for a child.

​@@muadhnateidk, not accepting the most basic thing that "its natural and entirely fine to be lgbtq" shows that youre not a loving home for anyone in general, in my opinion

Right? If they want to live in a theocracy, go to one of those countries. I grew up with the Westboro crowd in my area, so hate is a family value where I’m from (I was 19 when they became a thing), and all I learned was, if you have to tell people you’re a Christian, you’re not one. Your actions should reflect that. I’m not an atheist, though I am optimistically agnostic. I feel for those kids.

@@reignofbastet My area was focus on the family. They would go from their meetings to Perkins "family" restaurants. Perkins was a huge leader of Focus on the family. So, I feel for you and the area you lived in.

@@jospehjack I haven’t heard that name in a few years. Another group that insists they’re “the” family values, whilst having, and spewing, hate and vitriol. I’m sorry you grew up in that, and I hope you’ve worked through, at least some, of it. The general public doesn’t factor in that sometimes people lose their family and friends that they’ve known their whole lives when they leave these churches and communities. It’s scary and it’s hard, especially for the more intense groups. On top of the fact that a lot of times they’re geographically isolated. Live and let live, but we’re in America, so that’s not going to happen. Good luck to you.

That's not just a nightmare scenario, that's extremely likely. Up to 40% of the youth homeless population is LGBT, that is around 1.7 million homeless LGBT youth. If we distribute their ages evenly between 15 and 18, there are up to 420,000 LGBT kids who are thrown out for being gay or trans EVERY YEAR. In a majority of these cases, they were kicked out due to their parents' "religious beliefs". When it comes to parents fostering children, the standard needs to be incredibly high for LGBT acceptance. If we assume an even 40% likelihood the fostered child will be LGBT, that's nearly a coin flip for the first child one fosters. If the parents foster 2 children, that's a 68% chance at least one will be LGBT, 78% for 3 kids, 87% for 4 kids, and a whopping 92% chance at least one kid will be LGBT if 5 kids are fostered. If any of your answers sound like you will exacerbate the anguish they've been through, you should be barred from fostering. We cannot accept abused LGBTQ+ kids being paired with abusers or abuse-sympathizers.

@@AlexsGoogleAccount Well said. I hope you have a great Pride Month.

No wonder they believe in forced-birth.

This is exactly how I felt as a kid. Always being told who I was "supposed" to be, never being allowed to just be me.

Yup, my fundamentalist mom still tries to control who I am even as an adult and it frustrates her that I'm not her perfect little Christian boy, I'm an atheist, metalhead, trans, and gay married lmao

​​@@katyungodly I'm a cis het dude and I hope there comes a time soon that "gay married" isn't even a phrase. It'll hopefully just be "married."

I'm with you @dougt!

"Yes your Honour. I am indeed a Heretic.... but hear me out!"

Oh it was NOT an option as a kid. If i did that it was back talking and would he punished

​@@philswaim392Back talking, aka I don't want you to challenge me and my beliefs in my house so I will punish you, but question why you let society walk over you as an adult because you feel you can't speak up for yourself due to constant punishments from "talking back."

Yup, as a kid in a Christian home in the 2000s I had no idea saying no was even an option. I would be hit with a chunk of wood if I tried defending myself. Reason would be "disobedience is a sin, the Bible says obey your mother and father"

Even as a kid, I thought that all the religious stuff I heard adults talk about was incredibly dumb. Christians literally think magic is real.

My mother-in-law was a circuit court judge and she called me a bigot… It really punctured the balloon that I thought was the real me. I was one of these “born-again Christians“ at the time(Jesus freak that would hand out tracks at the mall, etc.) It really got me thinking and how I had become such a person in her eyes. I guess I HAVE to thank her (may she Rest In Peace), for my last 45 years of trying to deconstruct that religion that I was taught as a child. My mom died when I was two and my great aunt and uncle raised me & also with three older siblings and also realizing we could’ve been separated and put in a orphanage. It made me want to trust those who had done what it would be impossible for most families and raise us all together. I think I had a certain amount of guilt to follow the religious teachings but as soon as I get out on my own I realized the hypocrisy was too much and I was either an atheist or at least agnostic… I kid Christians now and constantly say “thank The Goddess“ but I actually do pray to the Goddess who is above all that those around me they too find the strength to question their religion.

Additionally these are the same kind of parents that when you are unable to sleep cause you have PTSD over let's just say inappropriate behavior that was forced on you at night would say let's just pray on it. Not reassure you that you are safe and they will protect you but that god will protect you if you just pray hard enough.

My thoughts are- if thier was a loving god, you wouldn’t need foster parents right?

Same here except the worst part for me was enduring the abuse at the hands of the priest and being ignored by my Christian adoptive parents when I tried to disclose what the priest was doing to me. I'm 75 years old, this happened from 1959 till 1967 till I turned 18, left never to return.

really was good of God to deliver you to the safety of a family willing to care for you.

​@drinkwater5762 Yeah, after making their life shit so that they had to find another family.

That's striking straight to the heart of the legal argument that will remove them from the system (in other words: spoken like a competent lawyer)

You got it 😊. religion is trash.

Well said

The Sisters of Pepetual Indulgence are the perverted bigots who make fun of people's faiths . They are men dressed as sisters , how perverted can anyone get .

Abso-fucking- lutely!

One memory burned in my brain A “ Minister”. And his wife took in foster kids. One morning one of the young ladies that lived there ran out of the house “ she was screaming you can tell me what to do but you aren’t allowed to f@@k me” Shortly thereafter a van arrived and removed all of the foster children

@@emilyfeagin2673 So common. Most foster parents are good kind people. Some are perverts. I had both growing up.

I see this comment everywhere and I like it Everytime 🎉

Of course the child CAN ask them. At best the kid will be sent back as being "impossible" to handle at worst punished till they comply.

This is more than a confession, this is a cry for help by some too hateful to make it.

A boy must have short hair.

@@davidlafleche1142 Says who? The f*cking Jesus?

@@krembryle The Bible says so (1st Corinthians 11:14, KJV). And, if I were a father, my boys would get regular haircuts because that's what I want.

@@davidlafleche1142 why?

This is why these dimwits are so hell bent on reducing everyone with a uterus in the US as an incubator. They're counting on people being too poor to raise the consequental children that they have to be put into foster care. They want the chance to get these kids placed with "Christian families" to be brainwashed. Gross 😬

That part!

They aren't adopting but fostering. If you adopt you pay all the expenses, fostering the state pays you.

Terrible! I hope you have been able to find peace in yourself after all that horror, no small feat.

@@jeannerogers7085 My hope was to put a end to it especially when it comes to Native children being taken. We've won a few key battles which does my heart good. However I honestly know I will not find peace when anyone is being preyed upon by these people. I am a survivor not a victim.

It makes me so angry, and your story proves that the anti-LGBTQ bigotry is also rooted in white supremacy. There's so many parallels to the history of oppression. I'm glad you made it out.

Oh my goodness I am so sorry. I hope that you are doing some healing…as a fellow survivor (i wasn’t in those horrific places but I am distantly related to survivors of it. I survived my own battles in the foster care system) I know it is difficult to heal, you may never fully get over it. But every day is a step forward, know that there are always people out there for you even if they didn’t live through the same thing they may have similar experiences.

May I apologize as a catholic I'm disgusted by what you went thru, I truly believe people who did that to you and the other indigenous community citizens and those in the catholic leadership should have had to sever time in jail. Catholic pope should go to the indigenous community and sit down with tribal leaders to do a recompensation for all the horrfic actions that were done to them and their fellow citizens, Again I'm really truly sorry.

…and be paid for it by the State.

@@maargenbx1454 Yes, they want the state to pay them to groom children into their cult.

I hope they win .. the Vermont rule is moronic .. all these kids in foster care and they are putting more stipulations on who can foster … if a couple doesn’t feel Comfortable with a gay or trans child they should be able to opt out

@@mordakie3805 Good to see another sane person in this lefty swamp.

Reality must be biased towards child abuse I suppose. At least what lefties consider to be child abuse.

When you're used to privilege, equality feels like persecution.

Faux morals and authoritarian behaviors are not American values… Half of our country needs to immigrate to Russia where they can live under an authoritarian rule & truly understand it’s horrific implications.

Their rebuttal: "We don't HATE them! We love them exactly as they are, exactly as God made them! Straight, cis, and Christian! And if they're not that, they'll go to hell, so we must save them!" It's really twisted logic.

Because of what I went through myself in the foster system with what I’ve been through…I still don’t know who I am. I am finally in the questioning though. I figured out that I am bi but that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far. Thank you for sharing your story and I hope that you are doing ok.

What's also sad is a lot of people who still have their bio parents are literally having to reject them and cut contact with them because they're so bigoted and intolerable-impossible to have a friendly conversation with. That entire generation is so abusive even to their own kids.

@@ladylaurus8493 Thank you for sharing yours as well. I complete understand having to still figure yourself out! I am doing great now. I found a family that is accepting of me and they are great!

@@kaydenasher7430 It’s even harder after surviving “corrective rape” which is a form of torture and conversion therapy because they thought I was a butch lesbian because I preferred to play with boys than girls my age but when I played with girls my age they thought I was flirty

This is why I am considering becoming a foster parent for any child that has been kicked out of their family due to their sexuality. As a parent - I decided to let my own children be and believe want they want. It is their life. I was raised in a crazy religious family and I hated it. I do not own my children. As a parent it is my job to guide my children and not control them.

REDICULOUS that adults believe in saviors and magic to begin with.

@@user-cr4pz5yg7y Ok. You know, I really like the Friendly Atheist and find his content to be informative and interesting. As a Christian I do not feel that other people's beliefs or non-beliefs are a threat to mine. He is always very respectful of people's beliefs as long as they don't encroach on other people, which is something I agree with. I'm not sure why you feel it's helpful to belittle anyone who believes, but it's not really in line with the philosophy of this channel. I make no claims that my beliefs are objective fact or superior in any way. It's just a personal belief that contributes to my mental health and well being. I wish you well and hope that you can reconsider your approach.

@@christywillis1707 Wonderful that you feel that way, but atheists are scrambling to keep religion at bay in their daily life for a reason; whether it's fighting to keep it out of schools, or off the walls of government buildings, or out of doctors' offices, religion is a real threat to our lives. Amazing that you have such a "Zen" approach, and keep it to yourself, but the overwhelming weight of belief, specifically in Chrstianity, is bending the US to its will, and it's almost impossible to NOT feel like we need to "fight back" at every opportunity. Your self-described tolerance and benevolence completely ignores the damage being done out there, in the real world. Imagine a mammoth treading through a landscape, crushing the nests of birds, and caving in burrows, destroying the homes of small mammals and insects alike. A flea on the beast's back isn't responsible for the destruction, and certainly couldn't alter the beast's path to try minimize the damage; but if that flea was sentient enough to see what was happening, and with mild reproach, complained that it was tired of ducking its head to avoid the panicked bird parents that were dive-bombing the mammoth, I think we could all agree that the flea was way off-base in its criticism, no matter how mild. Struggles like this are messy, and yes, words can be hurtful, but you're not the one fighting to be allowed to live as they want. This isn't a philosophical debate, it's our actual lives. We have to stop it. We're all ecstatic over your benignity, but we have to prevent the beast you're riding from crushing the rest of us. If you don't understand why some of us come out swinging at every opportunity, then you're part of the problem.

The Bible also states that "God made them male and female" which intersex people objectively disprove, so I would take what that book says about science with a heap of salt.

Bible is collection of books written by dozens authors per testament, each having their own theological and political agendas. Thus it’s easy to find verses which say either clearly or can easily be interpreted to say what you believe is right thing. These christians value verses which make big deal about gender, in both old and new testament, thus proving that gender and gender norms are big deal...

Leaving is cowardly.

Bye

We have plenty of those please stop sending them here

Yes, those foster parents are disgusting

@elenachristian9860 Who are you saying should leave Vermont? The anti-trans couples who filed the lawsuit? Or the people who do not want anti-trans couple to foster children? The kids who would be placed with these anti-queer couples do not have the choice of leaving the state. Even if the state attempted to only place straight cisgender kids with such couples, the child might start questioning their gender or sexual orientation or might be hiding it.

Or out of any church of temple etc. when the kid is an atheist.

Also, those types are lying. And that repression usually comes out in super toxic ways that make any home not very safe for a child going through the same thing.

They have given kids with health issues to bible thumpers. In Colorado, a T1 diabetic was put in foster with some weirdos who pray for healing. The girl di*d at age 14 due to lack of diabetic care. The foster parents received 6 months probation. That's it. 6 months for murd*r.

Fairly high, those odds.

What's the chance ADF recruited the plaintiffs? 99.99999%

Like the infamous nutcase baker in Colorado who wouldn't do a gay wedding cake.

Leftists love calling the right conspiratorial and then drop sh@t like this. Absolute clownery lmao.

Like the web designer who sued to be able to refuse to do wedding web sites for gay people even though she was never asked to do one.

Accept* And yes, I agree

I have a feeling they would've been less charitable had you been Muslim or atheist. Christians seem to tend to be slightly more respectful to Judaism due to its historical proximity to Christianity.

It sounds much worse then that. That's a real serious problem but these scum are trying to justify abusing kids and getting paid by the government to do it. I'd rather it was just a way to make money.

Religious institutions are cycling out of cultural relevance.

Every use of religions is misuse.

ALL #RELIGIONISPROPAGANDA

They have to produce damages for standing.

They whine and whine because they are not allowed to discriminate and hate on others.

they are losing the foster $$$, which is what it comes down to, money and control

Their claim is harm on the basis of anti-religious discrimination, which is quite silly because it has nothing to do with their religion, just protecting the kids.

They didn’t get their way. In their mind, them not getting their way is “discrimination”, and is therefore not allowed.

They usually do don’t they?

@@torakfett3351 Oftentimes that turns out to be the case. I'm a person of faith in Jesus. I don't have those feelings against gay or transgender human beings and after decades of reading the four gospels I can't find in the teaching of Jesus himself any justification to hold those feelings. I have a transgender grandchild. I found that out recently. I don't love him any less than I did before. I don't understand it but God bless him is what I say. We can still go fishing together. I do know Christian people in my family who have a different point of view. I do not find it compatible with the way of life Jesus promoted. For that reason I hesitate to call myself a Christian.

No need to project onto them, lefty.

@@Gaussinal-ou7xo no need to be passive aggressive, Christ-o-path

@@krembryle I'm not Christian, lefty.

@@Gaussinal-ou7xo I mean, I will concur that I don't think fostering children is something people do for a paycheck, I am not under the impression that our foster care system is so well funded that we pay people enough that taking in children would be profitable, kids are expensive to raise if you're doing a good job and all... But isn't accusing people of trying to take advantage of social support systems like that a right wing thing mostly? Complaining about all the leeches on social infrastructure who are trying to milk the tax payer dollars or whatever? Like, I think the original poster is wrong, but are you saying all the right wing folks who complain about people using social infrastructure are just mad that they aren't able to take that money for themselves?

​@@Gaussinal-ou7xoWeird Question: If I adopt a Christian Kid, am I allowed to not let it go to church or Bible study? Am I allowed to deny it access to a Bible?

Wrong

@@paulagrant1073please point to where I’m wrong. Unless a foster parent adopts a child, then that child is still a ward of the state and so the state has the responsibility to protect them

i’m not so sure i can fully support the state of vermont in this case.

​@@drinkwater5762As an Anti-Theist, I can 100% support it. Vermont is one of the least Religious states in the country and one of the most accepting states when it comes to LGBTQ people. People that are Religious and Anti-LGBTQ have no place in Vermont.

​@@drinkwater5762I can. Pro-Christian and Anti-LGBTQ stances have no place in Vermont.

"manufactured and disturbing" you just described all religious fundamentalism

Seems like supremacist language. Bad take. It effects everyone equally as badly.

Yeah my mother didn't leave a single mark on me, just swatted me once with a hairbrush, but the foster parent grabbed me by the arm and i peed myself, he left a bruise of his hand on my arm. All because they "didn't like my tone". Like no matter how snotty a kid is, it should never be so hard that it leads to leaving a mark on their body. And they were considered award winners in foster care 😒.

​@@volk4523Embarrassing take.

@@Acidfunkish Back it up then. Surely you have a justification for this faux Fascist rhetoric?

​@@volk4523 "especially" isn't exclusionary

Intersex people disprove the Bible, it claims God only made male and female lol

Usually the people who scream about biology don't actually care about biology. Especially if they bring up things like sports, bathrooms or clothing. You know, three things that have changed over the years on who can do what with them...

Let them donate then, not have direct contact

Same here, about 3 months ago I heard the term gender non-conforming, and I thought, that's me! My whole life!

"Tolerate my intolerance!"

Or birth parents

​@@amberinthemist7912Or be around Children period. All they do is teach them to despise Non Christians.

Tbh this is why I, as queer leftist Christian, HATE these fucks. They make me look so bad, and I plan to adopt children in the future. As I am infertile and it will be the only opportunity for me to be a mother. I'm so sick of people bastardizing my religion, and choosing to add things, to fit their own agenda. That's why it's best to deal with these case and is how they typically deal with them at least in Connecticut,(I had family members, who were foster parents before) is they judge each individual family and or person who wants to be a foster parent, or adopt, as the individual situation it is. There are so many children who need homes, and there are many people like me, who are religious, and don't follow this bastardized version of christianity. Even my pastor is a lesbian. My entire congregation, are leftists. We have members of the entire LGBTQIA+ spectrum. It's a requirement to be respectful too, and truly accepting or you're kicked out. So like I said, it's better to judge things on an individual basis, especially with things like this. If we made it some sort of requirement, for you to not be religious in order to be a foster parent, so many children would not end up with home. As long as they're loving, as accepting, that's what matters. I think it really depends on where you live. I live in a blue state, and most of the people who are religious that I have met here, are accepting. Truly accepting too.

​@@amberinthemist7912 how do you propose we do that?

@xdani_thethinkingneko I don't think they were advocating for policy changes, just stating the fact that religious folks more often mentally abuse their kids than not, so they shouldn't have them. Perhaps there should be checkups done on kids of all parents to ask how they are being treated. I would've benefited greatly from that, growing up in an abusive Christian household. I had nobody to tell.

Same with 'missionary work', there have been many expose' where food and other things a vulnerable, poor community needs is withheld, on the condition the people they are 'serving', attend Bible study. This usually happens to indigenous communities, who already have their own spiritual belief systems.

Not quite the same, these are issues about basic identification and to deny the child’s needs to be understood and affirmed is nothing short of the worst form of child abuse. Some children can not endure a total denial of who they are and how they see then Themselves. Non trans kids are not being told they are sinners and need to repent because they failed to wash the dishes or obey their parents these trans / gay kids get to be disallowed 24 /7 just for being ….think about it….!

@@tracygeddes5867 No such guardrails exist for the millions of similarly situated kids living with their biological parents. I'm not sure how I feel about the entire situation.