April 12, 2023 on The Story: Jessica Bates is the mother of five biological children out in eastern Oregon's Malheur County. She became a widow in 2017. More recently, Bates decided that she wanted to adopt two young children from Oregon's foster care system — but she took issue with a requirement that she support the gender identity or sexual orientation of her adoptive children, something she says would contradict her religious beliefs. Ultimately, her application to become a foster parent was denied. Now Bates is suing the state, claiming religious discrimination. But for LGBTQ+ advocates, these state policies are in place for a very good reason: they could save lives. Watch more The Story videos: http://bit.ly/watchTheStory Follow The Story on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheStoryKGW Follow The Story on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thestorykgw