A Tennessee court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Jewish couple alleging that a Christian adoption agency discriminated against them because they are Jewish.
Gabriel and Elizabeth Rutan-Ram sued the Tennessee Department of Children's Services (DCS) and DCS Commissioner Jenifer Nichols, challenging a 2020 law in the state that gave legal protections to private adoption agencies that rejected placements of children due to religious beliefs.
The law had been criticised extensively as it allows agencies to discriminate against LGTBQ+ people based on religious beliefs, but the Rutan-Rams claimed they were discriminated against because they are Jewish.
The case was dismissed last week by a panel of three judges based on grounds (whether the couple had the legal standing to bring the case), rather than the constitutionality of the law.
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The Rutan-Rams claimed in their lawsuit filed in January that they were denied access to foster training programs via the Holston United Methodist Home for Children, which receives public funding, because they are Jewish.
The court ruled 2-1 that the couple’s claim was moot because they were able to complete the training programs and receive certification through the Tennessee Department of Children's Services months later, albeit not through Holston United.
The majority opinion read: “Because the Couple has received the very services they claim they were previously denied, the Panel Majority adopts the Defendants' analysis and concludes that any issue related to denial of services is not capable of the prospective relief the Plaintiffs seek and is now moot.”
The court did not rule on the constitutional protections, but the majority did downplay some of the arguments against the law, writing that it “does not single out people of the Jewish faith as a disfavored, innately inferior group.”
The judges in the majority were Carter S. Moore, covering Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties, and Roy B. Morgan Jr. covering Chester, Henderson and Madison counties.
Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle in Nashville dissented from the majority, saying that the lawsuit should have been allowed to advance, in part because the couple “need not demonstrate that they would have been completely foreclosed from fostering/adoption — only that they cannot compete for the right to adopt on the same footing as everyone else.”
In a statement, President and CEO of campaign group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rachel Laser, labelled the decision “unconscionable and unconstitutional”, and the group has announced plans to appeal the decision.
Laser added: “The courthouse door should not be slammed shut on foster parents and taxpayers like Gabe and Liz Rutan-Ram who bravely came forward to fight religious discrimination in state-funded foster care services.”
Bradley Williams, president and CEO of Holston, said in a statement to the Christian Post in January, saying that they "view the caregivers we partner with as extensions of our ministry team serving children."
He said: "So from the very beginning, we seek to find alignment with them, and if we cannot do so, we try to help them find an agency that may be a better fit. Finding other agencies is not hard to do. In Tennessee, for example, there are six other agencies for each one faith-based provider."
He added: “Forcing Holston Home to violate our beliefs and place children in homes that do not share our faith is wrong and contrary to a free society."
