Dear Jack,

Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your friends and church families.

We would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25, or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and fighting for your values on the public square!

1. FOX NEWS: SCOTUS Rules on State Ban on Gender Transition 'Treatments' for Minors in Landmark Case

“The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Tennessee law banning transgender medical procedures for adolescents in the state is not discriminatory, ruling 6-3 to uphold the law.

At issue in the case, United States v. Skrmetti, was whether Tennessee's Senate Bill 1, which 'prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow "a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex" or to treat "purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity,"' violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."

Read more: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scotus-rules-state-ban-gender-transition-treatments-minors-landmark-case

To read more about this issue, click here. We also filed an important amicus brief in this case, which you can read here. Finally, you can read our press release here.

2. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Treasurer Believes SCOTUS Decision Will Influence NC State Health Plan Case

"State Treasurer Brad Briner’s office believes Wednesday’s US Supreme Court decision in a Tennessee case will help resolve North Carolina’s legal battle over State Health Plan coverage of medical treatments for transgender patients. . . . Meanwhile, the court has not yet decided how to address Folwell v. Kadel. That case involves the North Carolina State Health Plan’s coverage of medical treatments typically pursued by transgender patients."

Read more: https://www.carolinajournal.com/treasurer-believes-scotus-decision-will-influence-nc-state-health-plan-case/

We filed an amicus brief in the Folwell v. Kadel case, which you can read here.

3. N&O: NC Senate Passes Protections for Parents Who Refuse Gender-Affirming Care for Kids

"Prospective adoptive parents in North Carolina could not be denied the placement of a child in their care because the parents oppose providing the child with gender-affirming and transition care, under a bill approved by the state Senate on Wednesday. Senate Bill 442, titled the 'Parents Protection Act,' would also mean that a biological, adoptive or foster parent’s refusal to allow their child to receive such care — put another way, as it is stated in the bill, 'raising a child consistent with the child’s biological sex' — would not qualify as abuse or neglect under law."

Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article305841296.html

4. FILED: Vitsaxaki v. Skaneateles Central School District Amicus Brief

The NC Values Institute, our sister organization, has submitted an amicus brief to the 2nd Circuit Court in Vitsaxaki v. Skaneateles Central School District.

This case challenges a school policy that allowed staff to secretly affirm a child’s gender transition without notifying parents—while compelling others to use pronouns that contradict their conscience and faith.

The brief defends the constitutional rights of parents, teachers, and students to speak according to their beliefs—without government-imposed ideology.

Read the brief: https://ncvi.org/vitsaxaki-v-skaneateles-central-school-district-amicus-brief/

5. WRAL: NC Lawmakers Send Sweeping Foster Care Reforms to Governor

"North Carolina lawmakers approved sweeping foster-care reforms Wednesday, sending a comprehensive bipartisan bill to Gov. Josh Stein.

House Bill 612, which sponsors call the Fostering Care in NC Act, would give the state more power to hold county-run social services departments accountable. House lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously approved changes proposed by the Senate, the last approval needed before heading to the governor. Stein can approve the measure, veto it, or let it become law without signing it."

Read more: https://www.wral.com/story/nc-lawmakers-send-sweeping-foster-care-reforms-to-governor/22055897/

Weekly Prayer: Family

LORD, we cry out to you as Father. You are a model of the love, mercy, and authority of the perfect parent. We thank you for modeling for us what every parent should strive for, and for creating this wonderful institution called family.

LORD, we thank you for creating us with a basic nature designed to not be alone. You made us to desire the intimacy of relationships, and it is here where we experience joys indescribable: the joys of marriage, the joys of having children; the joys of seeing our children have children. What a blessing and mercy you gave us in the family! In it we find our first teachers, our first guardians, and our first authorities.

LORD, we recognize how deeply you love your children, and how deeply it pains you when they go astray. Alongside our adoration and thanksgiving, we pray in confession—as individuals and as members of larger communities—over any sins we may have committed that undermine your beloved institution. Forgive us when we endanger your institution through selfishness and arrogance. Forgive our communities and nation for attempting to redefine some of the most basic and deepest parts of being human—being made male and female, having lifelong marriage vows and responsibilities, and having parental rights over educating one’s children.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12-17)

Amen

Sincerely,

Tami & Team

NC Values