By Tyler Arnold
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 10, 2025 /
18:00 pm
The Kansas House and Senate voted successfully to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that will protect the religious liberty of adoptive parents and foster parents on issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation.
House lawmakers voted 87-38 and Senate lawmakers voted 31-9, which exceeds the two-thirds supermajority needed to override a veto. Although the governor is a Democrat, the Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers of the state’s Legislature.
The new law, which takes effect immediately, prohibits the Kansas Department for Children and Families from enacting any policies that would force an adoptive parent or foster parent to affirm support for gender ideology or homosexuality to obtain a license to adopt or foster children.
Under this law, a person cannot be denied a license based on his or her “sincerely held religious or moral beliefs” on those subjects and the department cannot refuse to select them to foster or adopt children.
The state can still consider an adoptive or foster parent’s beliefs on those topics when deciding where to place a specific minor who identifies as transgender or has same-sex attraction, but it cannot impose a blanket ban on people with those beliefs fostering or adopting children.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen praised the lawmakers for the veto override, saying in a statement that “every child deserves a loving home that can provide them stability and opportunities to grow.”
“This is a critical step to prioritize the well-being of kids by prohibiting state and local government officials from discriminating against adoption and foster care providers and parents simply because of their religious beliefs and moral convictions,” Chafuen said.
ADF currently represents families in Vermont and a mother in Oregon who are fighting lawsuits against policies in those states that require prospective foster and adoptive parents to first affirm an adherence to gender ideology before they can foster or adopt children.
Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency, based in EWTN News’ Washington Bureau. He previously worked at The Center Square and has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.
