A federal judge ruled today that the ACLU’s challenge to Michigan’s practice of allowing discrimination against same-sex couples in the public foster care system can move forward.

Attorneys for the ACLU of Michigan filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court today to challenge the state’s practice of permitting state-funded child placement agencies to use religious criteria to turn away lesbian and gay prospective foster and adoptive parents. The legislature passed a law in 2015 with the purpose of codifying that practice.