Another Black Lives Matter activist has been caught committing fraud, and the woman was named a “Bostonian of the Year” in 2020 by the Boston Globe.

Monica Cannon-Grant became a BLM activist after the death of George Floyd and ran a nonprofit organization called “Violence in Boston” that received tens of thousands of taxpayer-funded pandemic relief.

Prior to pleading guilty, Cannon-Grant had blamed ‘white supremacy’ for the fraud allegations.

On Monday, Cannon-Grant was ordered to pay back $224K in funds that she rerouted from the nonprofit to benefit herself personally.

The woman and her husband, Clark Grant, were indicted in the fraud scheme in 2023, but he died from a motorcycle accident two months after they were indicted.

Cannon-Grant pleaded guilty to more than a dozen fraud-related charges in Jan. 2026 and was able to escape prison time, though she was sentenced to six months of home confinement, four years of probation, and 100 hours of community service.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said she spent the money on her car insurance, auto loan payments, travel, hotels, gas, food deliveries, restaurants, and nail salons.

Cannon-Grant pleaded guilty to the following:

Ten counts of wire fraud;Three counts of wire fraud conspiracy;One count of mail fraud;Two counts of filing false tax returns; andTwo counts of failing to file tax returns.

RELATED: BLM activists in Boston facing even more federal fraud charges

The nonprofit’s stated mission included reducing violence, raising social awareness, and aiding community causes in the Boston area. The organization’s board voted to shut it down after the embezzlement charges.

Prior to pleading guilty, Cannon-Grant had blamed “white supremacy” for the fraud allegations.

“Monica Cannon-Grant’s crimes were not a momentary lapse in judgment — they were a calculated pattern of deception that spanned years,” U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said. “She repeatedly lied to donors, government agencies, and the public, even after being caught — all while presenting herself as a champion for others. Fraud disguised as activism or charity is still fraud.”

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The parent companies of two of the most influential social media platforms were hit with a historic loss by a California jury on Wednesday.

While the damages awarded by the jury in the Los Angeles case were negligible for the tech giants, the decision sets a precedent for other potential lawsuits.

‘It’s a resounding verdict.’

The lawsuit was filed by a 20-year-old woman who alleged that the design of the online platforms led to her social media addiction and had a deleterious effect on her mental health.

The defendants included Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok.

Snapchat and TikTok settled with the woman before the trial began, but Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and Google, the parent company of YouTube, were ordered to pay $3 million in damages.

Even more damaging, the jury ruled against the companies, despite the woman admitting that there were other unrelated causes that degraded her mental health.

In comments to Blaze News, economic expert Carol Roth pointed to the stock market reaction to the lawsuit.

“If the platforms are as addictive as the jury seems to believe, then the companies probably don’t have much to worry about in terms of future earnings, as it means their customer base isn’t going anywhere!” she joked.

“But on a more serious note, while the verdict and payout in the Los Angeles case sets a bad precedent for the company and future lawsuits,” she added, “the damages won’t have a material effect at this point on the companies, and the market’s reaction to Meta and Google’s stock price isn’t showing any concern — in fact, in the case of Meta, the damages are lower than some investors expected. The biggest concern may stem from any future regulation pushes that make use of this ruling.”

A spokesperson for Meta said in an email statement to Blaze News that the company “respectfully” disagreed with the verdict and will appeal.

“Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app,” the statement reads. “We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”

RELATED: Blaze News investigates: Online predators are using artificial intelligence to force children into sextortion scams, says digital expert

Fox News legal analyst Josh Ritter, a criminal defense attorney, predicted the case would lead to a wave of lawsuits against the companies.

“It’s huge as far as what it means for all of the other plaintiffs. This is now blood in the water. They now understand that these companies are vulnerable,” Ritter said.

“These arguments work. … It’s a resounding verdict, even though the money itself is probably not a check that’s gonna be all that difficult for these companies to write,” he added.

Worse still for Meta, on Tuesday a jury ordered the company to pay $375 million over a lawsuit brought by the New Mexico state attorney general alleging the company misled users about sexual predators on their platforms.

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​Lawsuit against meta, Lawsuit against google, Mental illness social media addiction, Social media addiction, Politics 

As politics becomes increasingly shaped by social media, mass messaging, and distant institutions, BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre is questioning whether modern societies have simply grown too large to be human.

And author of “The Master and His Emissary” Dr. Iain McGilchrist has an answer for him.

“More and more, our politics is this disembodied understanding. It is the thing fed to us through social media feeds and communicated through advertisements and headlines and these things. People feel like they know more about the world than they’ve ever known,” MacIntyre says.

“In reality, they know not even their neighbor or the issues that they face politically. And so these things have become completely disconnected. To my mind, the way that this is evolving is that we are basically becoming less human in all of our political interactions, making it very difficult for us to then understand the other as human, to understand the society and the world around us,” he continues.

MacIntyre believes this will precede a “collapse in our political systems” that will bring us back “to more of a city-state model.”

“Do you think that we can continue to see these large, you know, super-states expand and continue to lean on this idea that they have some kind of meaningful input from the individuals involved in their citizens, or do you think that ultimately we will have to contract and once again deal with each other at a much more local level when it comes to political organization?” MacIntyre asks McGilchrist.

“I do think we will need to do that very definitely if we’re to survive,” McGilchrist answers.

“We will have to rediscover the virtues of intermediate size,” he continues, pointing out that it may resemble the “downfall of a civilization.”

“But it might actually enable the regeneration of a much better way of life in which we lived with more modest demands on the earth, closer to the earth, cultivating the earth in common with our own community, sharing our lives with them, helping and supporting one another,” he explains.

“That would be a very different one from the one in which we are alien from one another,” he adds.

Want more from Auron MacIntyre?

To enjoy more of this YouTuber and recovering journalist’s commentary on culture and politics, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Aaron macintyre, The auron macintyre show, Iain mcgilchrist, Democracy, Society, Humanity, Philosophy, The master and his emissary 

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Rochester police officers and a Crisis Response Team social worker were called to an apartment in the 1900 block of Ashland Drive Northwest around 9:30 p.m. March 11 on a report that a man was experiencing a mental health crisis.

Officers and social workers arrived and spoke to the man in his apartment, the bureau said, adding that an adult female and multiple children also were present.

The bureau said White ‘grabbed an officer’s firearm during the struggle and pulled the trigger, causing the gun to fire.’

Officers and the social worker noted that the man was acting erratically and paranoid, and they concluded that he possibly was a threat to himself and others, the bureau said.

Authorities decided to place the man — later identified as 47-year-old Cleavon White — on a 72-hour mental health hold and told him he would be transported to a hospital, the bureau said.

RELATED: Police release bodycam video of cop fatally shooting 6’5″ woman who slashed his face, kept advancing despite warnings to stop

Image source: Rochester (Minn.) Police Department bodycam video screenshot

After White refused to go, officers then attempted to take him into custody, the bureau said.

But White resisted and a struggle ensued, the bureau said.

RELATED: Sheriff gave dire public warning after being forced to release ‘very dangerous’ inmate. Turns out his warning was warranted.

Image source: Rochester (Minn.) Police Department bodycam video screenshot

The bureau said White “grabbed an officer’s firearm during the struggle and pulled the trigger, causing the gun to fire.”

Police bodycam video of the incident — which can be viewed here — recorded the moment when the officer shouted, “He’s grabbing my gun!”

Seconds later, another officer fired five shots, according to the bodycam video.

The bureau said the shots struck White, after which officers immediately rendered medical aid until an ambulance arrived and transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

In the aftermath of the shooting, someone is heard on the bodycam video asking where the gun is, and someone else — presumably the officer who shouted, “He’s grabbing my gun!” — is heard saying, “It’s still in my holster.”

No officers were injured, the bureau said.

Officer Josiah Duit — who has three years of law enforcement experience — fired his department-issued firearm, the bureau said, adding that the Rochester Police Department placed Duit on critical incident leave.

A March 12 news release from Rochester Police said the then-unidentified man grabbed one officer’s firearm during the struggle, but it did not indicate he pulled the trigger. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension issued it’s report March 17. The police bodycam video was released Wednesday.

The bureau said the Rochester Police Department requested that it investigate the use of force, and the bureau will present its findings without recommendation on charges to the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office for review.

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​Mental health crisis, Bodycam video, Rochester, Minnesota, Police, Police involved shooting, Fatal shooting, Man grabs cop’s gun, 72-hour hold, Resisting officers, Use of force, Minnesota department of public safety’s bureau of criminal apprehension, Crime 

President Donald Trump is praising the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who are helping at airports amid a partial government shutdown and says the public is responding positively.

Long lines at airports have been plaguing travelers since a congressional standoff paused some funding for the Department of Homeland Security, affecting mainly the Transportation Security Administration.

‘They are Great American Patriots, they just happen to have much larger, and harder, muscles than most — which is what they’re supposed to have.’

While the media has tried to scare the public into thinking ICE agents would harass and detain U.S. citizens, other reports say the program has been a success.

“I am so proud of our ICE Patriots! They were unfairly maligned by the Lunatic Democrats for years, and now, at the Airports, in addition to what they are supposed to be doing, they are helping people with bags, even picking up and cleaning areas. They are so proud to be there!” the president wrote on Truth Social Wednesday.

The president went on to say the Democrats’ criticism against ICE has backfired.

“The fact is, they shouldn’t have to do this, but they are rehabbing a fake image given to them by Radical Left Democrat politicians,” he added. “The Public is loving ICE, so the Democrats, unwittingly, did us a favor — They are Great American Patriots, they just happen to have much larger, and harder, muscles than most — which is what they’re supposed to have.”

Democrats have been trying to force Republicans to defund ICE by stalling the funding for DHS, leading Republicans to blame Democrats for the staffing shortages and long lines.

ICE has been sent to 14 U.S. airports to help with the long lines, according to border czar Tom Homan, who added, “If they see criminal activity, just like a law enforcement officer, they should take action.”

“Thank you to ICE for the GREAT job you are doing. America very much appreciates it!” the president concluded.

RELATED: Heroic off-duty ICE officers jump into action to save 4-year-old boy under water in hotel pool for 5 minutes

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The White House has flat-out rejected media reports claiming key players have been cut out of ongoing negotiations with Iran.

Outlets like CNN and the New York Post have reported that Iran does not want to re-enter negotiations with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and that they instead insist on negotiating with Vice President JD Vance. The White House and other sources familiar with the negotiations vehemently pushed back on this characterization, telling Blaze News that only one person has the discretion to decide who is or isn’t involved in peace talks.

‘The whole premise and their sourcing is laughable.’

“President Trump and only President Trump determines who negotiates on behalf of the United States,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Blaze News.

“As the president stated today, Vice President Vance, Secretary [Marco] Rubio, Special Envoy Witkoff, and Mr. Kushner will all be involved.”

RELATED: ‘TOTAL RESOLUTION’: Trump orders temporary suspension amid Iran peace talks

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Other officials went even further, telling Blaze News that these anonymously sourced articles are just another attempt to quash peace negotiations.

“These stories are utterly false,” a White House official told Blaze News. “This obvious op sourced entirely to anonymous or ‘regional’ sources is clearly a coordinated foreign propaganda campaign meant to undermine the president.”

Another source familiar with the negotiations said the reports are sourced by foreign actors attempting to push their own propaganda about the ongoing Iran war.

RELATED: ‘Insulting and laughable’: Trump administration slams Joe Kent’s resignation protesting Iran strikes

Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

“CNN and NYPost are using anonymous sources aka sources from other Middle Eastern countries who clearly want to scuttle negotiations to launder foreign propaganda and blatant misinformation,” the source told Blaze News. “The big tell is it’s not even being sourced to the Iranians but other unnamed regional sources who may or may not have a reason to undermine negotiations by peddling this type of laughable fiction.”

“The whole premise and their sourcing is laughable,” the source added. “They’re relying on other countries who may have an interest in quashing any negotiations here.”

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​Donald trump, Karoline leavitt, Jd vance, Marco rubio, Steve witkoff, Jared kushner, Iran, Iran war, Cnn, Nypost, Peace talks, Politics 

As many top figures in the Department of Homeland Security are being replaced, another department has lost a key adviser in the health sector amid a lengthy legal fight.

The New York Times reported that Dr. Robert Malone, who served as the vice chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, has resigned from his position amid a complicated legal fight and recent setbacks.

‘If offered the opportunity to participate in a relaunched ACIP, I will respectfully decline.’

Dr. Malone, an ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a strong critic of the COVID pandemic response, resigned shortly after the panel’s existence was thrown into jeopardy by a federal judge in Massachusetts.

The ruling, the New York Times previously reported, struck down several decisions on vaccines made by the panel.

RELATED: ‘Rogue’ Biden judge blocks critical pieces of RFK Jr.’s vaccine reform

Photo by Ben Hendren/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In his decision to halt the panel’s overhaul of the vaccine regulations, Judge Brian Murphy of the District of Massachusetts noted that the panel is supposed to review scientific evidence with “a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements,” according to NYT.

However, the judge wrote, “Unfortunately, the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”

In a series of text messages obtained by Roll Call, Malone said he would not consider rejoining the panel if it were revived after this legal setback: “If offered the opportunity to participate in a relaunched ACIP, I will respectfully decline.”

“Hundreds of hours of uncompensated labor, incredible hate from many quarters, hostile press, internal bickering, weaponized leaking, sabotage,” Malone wrote in another text message, according to Roll Call. “I have better things to do.”

However, there is evidence to suggest that Malone gave much thought to this decision, including another text message that reportedly said, “This was not an impulsive decision.”

Malone also echoed these sentiments publicly on Monday in a social media post, which included the final publication of research he had prepared for the panel. He wrote: “That concludes publication of materials I had prepared for the ACIP COVID and Influenza work groups. I hope y’all find them useful. Please keep in mind that both the American Academy of Pediatrics and a Boston Federal Judge have determined that I am unqualified to serve on the CDC ACIP and contribute to advising the CDC Director on vaccine policy matters.”

“So much for providing hundreds of hours of free labor to serve my country. Truly a fool’s errand,” Malone added.

Dr. Kirk Milhoan serves as chair of the panel. Milhoan and Malone were joined by 13 other voting members on the panel, a handful of ex officio members from different government health agencies, and a number of liaison representatives from other medical institutions.

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​Politics, Robert malone, Dr. robert malone, Cdc, Acip, Advisory committee on immunization practices, Rfk jr, Covid, Vaccines, Federal judge brian murphy, Massachusetts, Kirk milhoan 

Iran won’t be “fixed” by a press conference, a bombing run, or a fantasy about instant regime collapse. If you want a road map for what comes next, look at Northern Italy in 1945 — and the quiet, brutal work that made liberation possible.

The situations share a grim similarity. In Northern Italy, civilians lived under overlapping enemy forces — SS, Waffen-SS, Wehrmacht units, and Italian Fascists — all capable of total control, including public executions at a local commander’s discretion.

America will not administer Iran. Iranians will. US involvement will not morph into open-ended governance or ‘reconstruction’ missions that turn into permanent deployments.

The U.S. Office of Strategic Services began the behind-the-lines effort by building the Committee for the Liberation of Northern Italy — the CLNAI (from its Italian name, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia) — into a political umbrella that assembled a host of anti-fascist and anti-Nazi groups into something recognizable as a governing alternative.

Then the OSS inserted American and Italian anti-fascist agents, organized reception networks, and helped train and equip partisan formations. By early 1945, OSS Operational Groups and Special Operations parties were raising hell across Northern Italy in an arc from Genoa and Belluno to Ravenna. OSS officer Captain Albert “The Brain” Materazzi kept pressure on by anticipating and parrying German countermoves against individual missions.

As the war ended, the results were uneven: Wehrmacht units often surrendered; SS and Gestapo often did not. The CLNAI declared national liberation on April 25, 1945. A large uprising across Northern Italy forced the surrender of most enemy units; the remainder were killed, captured, or fled.

Even then, stability did not arrive overnight. Italy needed another year before a referendum made it a republic — and many more years before postwar order fully settled.

The point: Liberation is a sequence, not a switch.

What Italy suggests for Iran

Iran already has the raw material for internal change. The question is whether it can be organized, protected, and sustained long enough to become the next government rather than the next massacre.

1) Resistance exists — at scale

It’s obvious that many Iranians are willing to resist the mullahs and their coercive apparatus. The sheer number killed in recent protests — as many as 30,000 — proves that a large demographic has already shown the will to fight the regime.

2) The opposition is diverse — and that’s normal

The resistance contains deep political differences. Some want a return of the shah; others vehemently reject that. Some are Kurds seeking autonomy; others are separatists. But the unifying principle remains the same: ending the clerical regime and its enforcement arms.

3) Not every unit will fold the same way

Some elements of Iran’s security forces may quietly cease hostilities when the regime’s command structure fractures. Hardcore units — especially ideologically driven formations — will resist longer and more violently, like the SS “Werewolf” units after May 1945.

4) Preventing post-conflict starvation

A transition can fail because people get hungry, cold, and desperate faster than a new order can take shape. Keeping the civilian population alive and supplied is strategy, not charity.

What can be done

1) Build an umbrella political alternative

Organize and fund an Iranian resistance umbrella organization capable of acting like a provisional authority: coherent messaging, defined leadership, internal discipline, and a plan for a post-regime state.

2) Reopen information flow

Help the Iranian people communicate beyond regime control. That means smuggling thousands more Starlink communication kits to inform and unify the civilian population.

3) Create protected space for internal organization

Iran’s borders and peripheries are strategically vital. The objective is to give resisting Iranians room to organize, train, coordinate, and survive the fight against the hardcore religious units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, especially the Basij — without turning the effort into an open-ended American occupation.

4) Neutralize Tehran’s remaining leverage

As we have seen, the regime’s last international lever often involves disrupting commerce and energy flows, especially around the Strait of Hormuz. But that can work both ways. The goal should be to reduce Tehran’s capacity to use choke points as blackmail — through sustained maritime security and allied coordination — while keeping escalation controlled.

In recent weeks, U.S. air power suppressed all of Iran’s military sites on Kharg Island, stopping short of sending ground troops to control the island and reopen the Strait.

The U.S. can further counter Iran by “absorbing” whatever drones, missiles, fast-attack boats, mini-subs, and unmanned “suicide skiffs” it has left until the regime runs dry. We don’t need to put our ships and sailors in harm’s way. Instead, we can create a flotilla of “drone sponges,” a screen of decoy tankers loaded only with ballast, to force the IRGC to attack what appear to be hostile targets in the Strait.

With constant airborne surveillance (aided by artificial intelligence), each launch site and its personnel can be immediately and overwhelmingly attacked and reduced. The preferred weapon for these attacks should be Mark 77 Incindigel (not your grandfather’s napalm) because of its destructive potential and psychological effects.

RELATED: Trump acted first — and the ‘experts’ are furious because it worked

Celal Gunes/Anadolu/Getty Images

End state

The United States should pursue a defined end state in Iran: the collapse of the regime’s coercive apparatus, the emergence of an Iranian-led governing alternative, and the rapid stabilization of civilian life — without a large-scale U.S. occupation.

This doctrine rests on five commitments.

1) No occupation, no nation-building bureaucracy.

America will not administer Iran. Iranians will. U.S. involvement will not morph into open-ended governance or “reconstruction” missions that turn into permanent deployments.

2) Iranian-led transition, backed by U.S. leverage.

Washington will recognize and support an Iranian resistance umbrella capable of coordinating civil authority, communicating with the public, and negotiating defections from regime institutions. The goal is political consolidation inside Iran, not a U.S.-designed replacement government.

3) Relentless pressure on the regime’s hard-power core.

The campaign will focus on degrading the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and associated internal-security organs until they can no longer sustain repression or organize effective retaliation. The objective is to break the regime’s capacity to rule by fear.

4) Targeted “advise and assist” support, not massed ground forces.

U.S. support will center on intelligence, communications, logistics, training, and limited partner enablement in support of Iranian formations willing to resist. The mission stays narrow: enable Iranians to defeat the regime’s coercive units and secure key nodes long enough for civil authority to take hold.

5) Humanitarian stabilization as a war aim, not an afterthought.

The United States will plan and execute large-scale relief to prevent post-conflict collapse: food, medical supplies, power and water restoration support, and protected corridors for aid delivery. Starvation and infrastructure failure create chaos, empower extremists, and discredit any transition. Stabilization protects the moral legitimacy of the effort and the practical viability of the outcome.

Success looks like this: The regime’s enforcement arms split and lose cohesion; civilian life steadies; an Iranian transitional authority takes control of basic services and internal security; Tehran’s ability to retaliate drops below the level that gives it strategic leverage; and the United States draws down to diplomacy, intelligence cooperation, and humanitarian support — then exits.

​Iran, Iran war, Trump, Antifascist, Oss, Regime change, Tehran, Strait of hormuz, Opinion & analysis, World war ii, Italy, Liberation, Nazis, Drones 

Two leftist members of Congress aim to shut down artificial intelligence data center construction, claiming that such centers destroy jobs and American attention spans.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced the proposal Wednesday to pause the creation of AI infrastructure in order to allow Congress enough time to pass more regulations.

‘We need serious public debate and democratic oversight over this enormously consequential issue.’

“AI and robotics are creating the most sweeping technological revolution in the history of humanity,” said Sanders in a statement to Axios. “The scale, scope, and speed of that change is unprecedented. Congress is way behind where it should be in understanding the nature of this revolution and its impacts.”

Many cities have already passed laws against data centers, and some states are considering the same.

In a February interview on MS NOW, Sanders said he was concerned about the effect on young people’s attention spans as well as the possibility that AI will make many jobs obsolete.

“I think we have not a clue. We are totally unprepared for what is coming,” he said at the time.

Opponents of new data centers point to concerns over their massive water and electricity usage, potentially damaging effects from chemicals they produce, as well as quality-of-life issues for nearby residents.

AI defenders respond that in order to maintain its global economic dominance, the U.S. must build up its own AI infrastructure industry.

“We cannot sit back and allow a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs to make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy, and the future of humanity,” Sanders added. “We need serious public debate and democratic oversight over this enormously consequential issue. The time for action is now.”

RELATED: Citizen outcry blocks a Microsoft data center, making AI an acid test for local government

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania responded immediately, and negatively, to the proposal.

“The emerging chassis of AI must be built by America,” he wrote on social media. “We can put appropriate guardrails in place without handing the win on AI to China. A moratorium is China First.”

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​Data center ban bill, Data center water use, Bernie sanders on ai, Aoc against ai, Politics 

Massachusetts officials are standing by their decision to ban a Catholic couple, who hold biblical views on marriage and sexuality, from fostering children, despite a December policy change that removed the state’s radical gender ideology mandate for caregivers.

Mike and Kitty Burke, long desiring to become parents, applied to become foster parents in 2022 after learning they would not be able to have children on their own.

‘The Commonwealth’s doublespeak is exactly why they are pressing for a clear ruling from the court protecting the freedom of religious families to foster and adopt children.’

Despite the couple successfully completing hours of training, extensive interviews, and a home study, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families denied their request.

The DCF’s Licensing Review Team stated that the Burkes were rejected “based on the couple’s statements/responses regarding placement of children who identified LGBTQIA,” according to the couple’s 2023 federal lawsuit against state officials.

At the time of the denial, Massachusetts foster parent licensing policy required applicant parents to “promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of a child placed in his or her care, including supporting and respecting a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”

This policy did not include any exemptions for religious perspectives.

RELATED: Blaze News original: Trump gives willing parents hope by taking aim at anti-Christian bigotry in foster system

Photo by Ali Atmaca/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

In December, the DCF issued an emergency amendment that removed the “sexual orientation or gender identity” language in the policy.

The DCF stated that the amendment would “strike the requirement that a foster/pre-adoptive parent or applicant affirm a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity and [replace] it with a requirement that a foster/pre-adoptive parent or applicant affirm a child’s individual identity and needs.”

In a March court filing, Massachusetts officials contended that policy change was irrelevant in the Burkes’ case because their denial was based on the rules in effect at the time. Further, they asserted that the denial “did not violate the Constitution” and was “not hostile to religion.”

Massachusetts officials argued that “the mere fact that the Burkes could not satisfy” the LGBTQ+ requirements, “whether due to their religion or otherwise, does not clearly establish that denying their license application was unconstitutional.”

RELATED: Lawsuit: Massachusetts refuses to allow couple to foster or adopt children because of their Christian faith

Roxbury Department of Children and Families. Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

The Burkes maintained that the discovery process proved that their religious beliefs were “the only reason for that denial.”

“Mike and Kitty were cautiously hopeful that Massachusetts would finally end its religious discrimination,” Lori Windham, senior counsel for Becket, the law firm representing the Burkes, told Blaze News. “But that hope turned to heartbreak when Massachusetts chose to keep fighting them in court. The Commonwealth’s doublespeak is exactly why they are pressing for a clear ruling from the court protecting the freedom of religious families to foster and adopt children.”

“Mike and Kitty are still open to fostering or adopting children in the future. But Massachusetts has made it harder for them to adopt any child with its discriminatory decision on their record, and that’s why they are asking the court to erase it,” she added.

A decision in the case is expected by the fall, Windham stated.

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​News, Massachusetts, Massachusetts department of children and families, Massachusetts dcf, Lgbt, Gender ideology, Mike and kitty burke, The burkes, Religion, Faith, Catholic, Gender, Sexuality, Foster care, Foster parents, Politics