A Catholic husband and wife, Kitty and Matthew Burke, are currently suing the state of Massachusetts after it rejected their application on the grounds that they “would not be affirming to a child who identified as LGBTQIA.” Tim Carney comments:

Massachusetts regulations dictate that all foster and adoptive parents must abide by the teachings of gender ideology, specifically the notion that children have an interior gender that is undetermined by their biological sex—and that children have the right to change their gender. . . . As the Burkes say in their complaint, this is “an absolute bar for Catholics who agree with the Church’s teaching on sex, marriage, and gender.”

When Washington state enforced similar regulations against a Seventh-day Adventist couple, a federal court blocked their enforcement, explaining that it was religious discrimination. . . . But calling these regulations religious discrimination doesn’t quite go far enough. Massachusetts and Washington didn’t merely create rules that discriminate against Catholics and Seventh-day Adventists. They discriminate against Muslims and Pentecostals too.

These state regulations also discriminate against secular, irreligious couples who do not believe that a boy who declares himself really a girl is actually a girl.

If you do not share this faith-based spirituality, Massachusetts believes you are not fit to adopt or foster children. Thus Massachusetts has once again established a state religion—one that happens to be harmful to children.

How did Qatar, an American ally, become the nerve center of the leading Palestinian jihadist organization? Natalie Ecanow explains.

When Jordan expelled Hamas in 1999, Qatar offered sanctuary to the group, which had already become notorious for using suicide-bombing attacks over the previous decade. . . . Hamas chose to relocate to Syria. However, that arrangement lasted for only a decade. With the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the terror group found its way back to Qatar.

In 2003, Hamas leaders reportedly convened in Qatar after the IDF attempted to eliminate Hamas’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, following a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed seven people, including two American citizens. This episode led to one of the first efforts by Qatar to advocate for its terror proxy.

Thirteen years and five wars between Hamas and Israel later, Qatar’s support for Hamas has not waned. . . . To this day, Qatari officials maintain that the office came at the “request from Washington to establish indirect lines of communication with Hamas.” However, an Obama White House official asserted that there was never any request from Washington. . . . Inexplicably, the United States government continues to rely on Qatar to negotiate for the release of the hostages held by Hamas, even as the regime hosts the terror group’s political elite.

A reckoning is needed between our two countries. Congressional hearings, legislation, executive orders, and other measures to regulate relations between our countries are long overdue.