We’ve been saying it for years. You can’t force parents to lie to children, you can’t compel Americans to recite your ideological catechism, and you sure as hell can’t yank kids out of loving homes because Mom and Dad won’t pretend a boy is a girl. This week, a federal judge in Washington state agreed — and ruled that the state’s gender ideology mandate for foster parents is likely unconstitutional. The First Amendment still works, folks. Even in Washington.

And here’s the part that makes it absolutely delicious: the judge who dropped this ruling is U.S. District Judge David Estudillo — a *Biden nominee*. That’s right. The Left’s own guy looked at their little speech-compulsion scheme and said, “Yeah, no, this violates the Constitution.” When you’ve lost your own judges, maybe — just maybe — you’ve gone too far.

Let’s back up and talk about what Washington state actually tried to pull here. Shane and Jennifer DeGross are Christian foster parents. Good people. The kind of people who open their home to kids who need one. Washington’s Department of Children, Youth & Families had a policy — the charmingly bureaucratic “Policy 1520” — that required foster parents to affirm a child’s “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression.” The state calls it SOGIE, because nothing screams “we care about children” like a government acronym nobody can pronounce.

The DeGrosses said they couldn’t do that. Not because they’re hateful. Not because they don’t love the kids in their care. Because their faith — and, frankly, basic biology — won’t let them tell a confused eight-year-old that yes, you really are the opposite sex, and here’s your new name and pronouns. They offered to love, house, feed, and care for any child placed with them. They just wouldn’t lie to them.

So what did Washington do? Did they say, “Thank you for your service, we appreciate your honesty”? Of course not. They slapped the DeGrosses with a *restricted* foster care license. That’s bureaucrat-speak for “you’re a second-class parent now.” Fewer placements. Fewer kids you can help. All because you won’t genuflect to the gender ideology altar.

The DeGrosses sued. And Judge Estudillo didn’t just let their case proceed — he laid down language that should make every gender mandate bureaucrat in America sweat through their lanyard. He wrote that “the situation would be no different if the state had restricted parental speech favoring more ‘progressive’ views… while compelling speech along the lines of the DeGrosses’ more traditional understanding.” Translation: the government can’t pick a side in this debate and then punish you for disagreeing. That’s not foster care policy. That’s compelled speech. And the Constitution has a few things to say about compelled speech.

The judge also pointed to the Ninth Circuit’s 2025 ruling in the Bates case, where Oregon got smacked for pulling the same stunt. Oregon tried it. Got told no. Washington watched Oregon get told no. Then Washington tried it anyway. Because progressive states treat court rulings like speed limit signs — more of a suggestion, really.

And let’s be clear about what this policy actually does to kids. Washington state is so committed to gender ideology that they’d rather have *fewer* foster parents than allow foster parents who hold traditional beliefs. There are kids sleeping in offices, in cars, in group homes because there aren’t enough foster families. And Washington’s priority is making sure every remaining family will use the right pronouns? That’s not child welfare. That’s ideological gatekeeping dressed up in a social worker’s badge.

The Left loves to talk about “the children.” They invoke kids in every policy debate like a rhetorical human shield. But when actual children need actual homes, the progressive machine says: sorry, we’d rather you sleep in a government facility than live with a family that believes in two genders. Priorities.

This ruling is part of a beautiful pattern we’ve been watching unfold. Courts across the country are finally catching up to what regular Americans figured out a long time ago: you cannot force people to affirm things they don’t believe. The Supreme Court’s Trinity Lutheran decision already established that the government can’t discriminate against people for being religious. The Ninth Circuit reinforced it in Oregon. And now a Biden-appointed judge has reinforced it again in Washington.

The gender ideology machine has been running on institutional momentum for years. Bureaucrats write policies. HR departments enforce them. Schools implement them. And anyone who objects gets labeled a bigot and shuffled to the back of the line. But judges — even judges appointed by the people who built this machine — keep pulling the emergency brake. Because the Constitution isn’t a suggestion. It’s the law. And no amount of SOGIE acronyms can override it.

Shane and Jennifer DeGross didn’t ask for a culture war. They asked to take care of kids who need a home. Washington state turned them into second-class citizens for it. And a federal judge — appointed by Joe Biden himself — just said that’s not how America works.

We’re winning these fights, folks. One courtroom at a time. And the best part? The Left keeps losing to their own judges.