Two Christian couples are suing the US state of Vermont after they were allegedly denied the opportunity to be foster parents due to their stance on LGBT issues.

Brian and Katy Wuoti, and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt said they were rejected as prospective foster parents despite the state having a shortage of safe homes for children to go to, for purely ideological reasons.

Brian and Katy Wuoti had already adopted two half-brothers into their family of seven and were deemed to be a “wonderful foster family”, according to court documents.

However, a policy introduced in 2021 states that parents would have to agree to take children to pride parades and respect a child’s preferred pronouns. Brian Wuoti is a pastor and felt unable to consent, as doing so would contradict the couple’s religious views. In April 2022, officials ruled the couple "ineligible" to foster.

Similarly, the Gantts were described as a “perfect” foster family. The couple first fostered in 2016, after their four adult children had moved out of the family home. In September, they were preparing to adopt an infant boy, born to a homeless mother who also suffered from drug addiction. After saying that they could not follow state guidelines on pronouns and pride parades, their license was revoked.

Named in the lawsuit are Christopher Winters, Vermont’s commissioner for children and families, and his deputy Aryka Radke. Radke defended the verdicts to the Daily Mail, saying: "It is our responsibility to ensure all children and youth will reside in a home with caregivers who are committed to fully embracing and holistically affirming and supporting them."

The lawsuit says the couples were rejected "solely due to their religiously inspired and widely held belief that girls cannot become boys or vice versa’, and that officials put 'politics above people and gender ideology over children's best interests'".