Mini-Episode: The Human Cost of Project 2025: A Story of Religious Discrimination in Adoption
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Co-produced with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the episode features a story narrated by Andrew Seidel about Liz and Gabe Rootenram, a Jewish couple from Tennessee who faced state-funded religious discrimination when trying to adopt a special needs child. The episode highlights how Project 2025 could institutionalize discrimination against non-Christian and LGBTQ+ parents, affecting countless families across the nation. Listeners are urged to watch and share a three-minute video to raise awareness about Project 2025's potential impact.
SHARE THE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRKxpym7rY
Americans United: https://www.au.org/project2025/
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Today, we have a mini episode on Project 2025 and the human cost that it poses.
It's hard to tell a story about the ways that Project 2025 hurts people when it's not something that's happened yet.
It is something that's being discussed at length, and I think most of you out there know some of the outlines of what it aims to do.
But today, I want to bring you a story of how Project 2025 has and will It's a story about adoption.
It's a story about people who are Jewish and not Christian.
And it's a story about families that don't fit the model of what Project 2205 sees as the right kind of American family.
It's brought to you by Americans United and my good friend Andrew Seidel.
So you're going to hear Andrew explaining this story and the context for it here in a minute.
And in the show notes, you're going to find links to share this on YouTube, to share this in many ways, whether Social media or by email or however you want to do it.
It's something that Americans United and we here at the podcast believe will help people understand what this will do for any number of families across the nation.
So here's Andrew and hope that this will provide a vivid glimpse of what may be to come if Project 2025 becomes a reality.
Project 2025 presents a challenge.
At 902 pages and more than 4 pounds, the playbook is overwhelming and it's full of legalese and governmental jargon.
So this threat is vague and it's hard to connect to people's personal lives and stories.
And moreover, because this is a future threat, this is something that is going to happen, possibly.
There aren't really any stories to tell about the threat that Project 2025 poses.
We wanted to change that.
We wanted to humanize the devastating cost of Project 2025.
Liz and Gabe Rootenram are a couple in Tennessee.
They are unable to have biological children of their own.
They actually identified a special needs child that they hoped to foster and adopt.
And the state-funded agency that trains and certifies potential foster families refused to work with Liz and Gabe because they are Jews.
This is state-funded religious discrimination.
Liz and Gabe were unable to adopt that child and denied the joy of parenthood because of religion.
And again, funded by their own tax dollars.
I can't imagine a better life for us than as parents.
I wanted to be able to have at least one biological child.
Then we realized that a biological child wasn't an option for us.
Then we decided to do the foster to adopt.
We started lining everything up.
So we found a child, a little boy in Florida.
This one stood out to us.
Unfortunately, as a Christian organization, our executive team made the decision several years ago to only provide adoption services our executive team made the decision several years ago to only provide adoption services to prospective adoptive families that Liz just called me crying.
Because we were Jewish, we weren't able to be parents.
It was a gut punch.
Our taxpayer dollars are going to foster care, yet we can't adopt a child through that system.
You know, it's hard sometimes seeing any of your friends that have kids.
You're happy for that person, but you also long for that.
Project 2025 is this voluminous 900-page document that the Christian nationalist movement has come up with on how they're going to take over the United States, basically.
To know that Project 2025 recognizes what's happening and is supporting it, it's really hard to swallow.
It's really disheartening to see that there's entire political arms at this point helmet on trying to make us second-class citizens.
We know this is an injustice.
If Project 2025 can come for us, it can come for anyone.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State That kind of sounds like what we're trying to do right here.
They've been along with us for all the struggles and the ups and downs.
They handle all the really complicated things that I don't always understand.
We tell our story and they take care of it from there.
They're dedicated to the cause of not letting a theocracy be established.
Americans United has been a light for us in this difficult time.
We're still nervous, but at least we know we're not alone.
So with help from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Liz and Gabe sued over this religious discrimination. Liz and Gabe sued over this religious discrimination.
And right now, we are winning that lawsuit.
AU and Liz and Gabe are winning.
Because we're fighting back against the idea that religious freedom is a license to discriminate, a license to harm others.
And because we are fighting back against that, we're being targeted.
Project 2025 actually targets lawsuits just like Liz and Gabe's.
On the Adoption Reform section of the Project 2025 handbook it says, faith-based adoption agencies that serve these children are under threat from lawsuits due to their religious belief.
It specifically targets lawsuits like Liz's and Gabe's.
It targets non-christian parents.
It targets LGBTQ plus parents.
And it would make religious freedom, Project 2025, if it is realized, it would make religious freedom a license to discriminate.
And taxpayers would be forced to fund their own discrimination.
And fund religions that are not their own.
Potential parents will be rejected.
If they are what would be considered a quote, wrong religion, or if they're LGBTQ.
There's 400,000 kids in foster care.
Kids are going to be denied homes and families if they don't fit the Project 2025 mold of a quote, biblically based family.
Which is something that Project 2025 talks about throughout, right?
And this is just one tiny piece of a 900 page monster.
Liz and Gabe's story is real.
It's happening now.
It is heartbreaking.
And it's just a tiny piece of the horrendous human cost that Project 2025 is going to reap across this country.
And as Gabe actually says in our video showcasing this threat, if Project 2025 can come for us, it can come for anyone.
And this video and the ads that we're running that are part of it to try to get the word out there does what nobody else has been able to do so far and that is put a human face on the cost of Project 2025 and the damage it is going to cause.
So I really ask everybody to share this video everywhere you can.
You can get to it by going to au.org slash project 2025.
We are running ads right now all over Milwaukee.
Nationally, we've put a lot of money behind this, especially for a small nonprofit, to try to get the word out there and show the very real human cost to this 900 page policy manual.
And what happens if America redefines the family as this biblically based definition that Project 2025 is after?
So there's, again, au.org slash project 2025.
The video is right there.
Please watch all three minutes.
It's just three minutes, just three minutes of your time.
And then please go share it everywhere.
It's so important to share this video with your networks, not just on social.
I know you've all got, like, group chats.
You've got the chats with your college friends, with your family, talking about the election.
Like, that is the place where you can make a difference.
Show them this video.
Show them what awaits this country if Project 2025 is realized.
Get the word out there on your networks.
And of course, share it on social.
We're doing all we can to get the word out there.
Attention is at a premium right now, so please do what you can.
And also, check out the rest of that website.
There's a lot of good stuff there.
For instance, we have a toolkit on how to talk about Project 2025 that you can use.
It's a great way to get things started.
Again, au.org slash project 2025.
Americans United is so thankful for all of your support and for joining us in this fight.
