The Alliance Defending Freedom is a so-called \u201clegal alliance of Christian attorneys\u201d with a history of funding and representing cases targeting LGBTQ people, youth and protections.<\/p>\n
It is listed as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a>, which also notes ADF\u2019s efforts against abortion access and that its CEO, Michael Farris, fought equal rights for women. Farris also coordinated<\/a> efforts to discredit the 2020 presidential election, in which LGBTQ voters were a deciding<\/a> faction.<\/p>\n \u2014Submitted an amicus brief<\/a> in the case United States v. Jonathan Skrmetti<\/em> at the United States Supreme Court arguing in favor of Tennessee’s ban on healthcare for transgender youth even when approved by medical providers and with parental permission.<\/p>\n \u2014Representing Lori Smith<\/a> (above, left), a graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for same-sex couples, at the United States Supreme Court. Smith seeks to discriminate against same-sex couples despite not actually having been asked to do any work on behalf of any LGBTQ clients. Smith’s ADF attorney is Kristen Waggoner (above, right) who also represented Colorado baker Jack Phillips who objected to designing a wedding cake for a gay couple.<\/p>\n \u2014Several of the companies involved with wedding businesses that ADF sued for the right to deny service to same-sex couples have since abandoned their work on weddings<\/a>. ADF clients Brush & Nib and photographer Chelsey Nelson ceased doing wedding-related work prior to or shortly after winning their cases. ADF cited both cases in its petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to heir the case of Christian web designer Lori Smith in Colorado.<\/p>\n \u2014Filed<\/a> preemptive lawsuits in nine states in 2014 on behalf of Christian vendors who objected to same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n \u2014”Had a hand in formally establishing companies for some of its clients,” according to the Washington Post<\/em><\/a>. The ADF lawyers signed incorporation paperwork and helped to draft company policies that were later used as a basis for the wedding lawsuits, and promoted promoted some of its lawsuits with videos and images of plaintiffs photographing women in bridal gowns at staged events featuring ADF employees.<\/p>\n \u2014For nearly a decade colluded with the\u00a0American College of Pediatricians<\/a> (ACP) to shore up anti-transgender policy efforts and legal arguments with junk science. The ACP uses anti-LGBTQ junk science<\/a> to back up many of its discriminatory talking points and to provide medical justification for interpreting Title IX to exclude gender-identity protections. Because the ADF lacked scientific evidence to back up its claims that nondiscrimination protections put children at risk, the organization ordered custom white papers from ACP. The coordination also extended to ADF drafting legislation for many states to ban transgender healthcare; ACP members were recruited to testify in support of those bans in GA, AL, KY and OH. Despite testifying before state legislatures in support of the bills, ACP’s “experts” have been discredited as not qualified to be experts in court, including Dr. Quentin van Meter and Dr. Paul Hruz<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014Filing failed lawsuit<\/a> to prevent transgender students from participating in sports.<\/p>\n \u2014Made false claims<\/a> in filings against transgender students looking to participate in sports. A softball player testified in front of Arizona lawmakers in support of a ban on transgender athletes, but did not disclose she was the daughter of ADF\u2019s general counsel, and her testimony included the false claim that her team lost a tournament to team with a transgender player. The player was not transgender; she had short hair.<\/p>\n \u2014Represented<\/a> a teacher who refused to use accurate pronouns and names of transgender students. Research<\/a> shows using accurate pronouns and names reduces suicide risk for vulnerable youth.<\/p>\n \u2014Flew in to testify<\/a> in the Ohio legislature to spread misinformation about gender affirming care for youth, which is supported by every major medical association.<\/p>\n \u2014Represented a college professor who refused to use students\u2019 accurate pronouns, against policies supporting student rights to a discrimination-free learning environment.<\/p>\n \u2014Argued in court for the criminalization of homosexuality in amicus briefs<\/a> for the U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/em>Represented<\/a> a baker in Colorado\u00a0at the U.S. Supreme Court fighting the state\u2019s ordinance protecting LGBTQ people from being discriminated against, losing<\/a> its effort to legalize discrimination in 2018.<\/p>\n \u2014As early as 2010 began sending letters threatening libraries to ban books with LGBTQ inclusive content and characters.<\/p>\n \u2014Represented \u201cconversion therapy\u201d practitioners in lawsuits, a practice discredited by mental health and medical professionals as harmful and ineffective.<\/p>\n \u2014Helped draft<\/a> the 2020 Idaho transgender sports ban that set a model for other states; the measure<\/a> is on hold for legal challenges.<\/p>\n \u2014Helped draft<\/a> bills in Montana and other states targeting trans youth participation in school sports, using similar and interchangeable language<\/a> in legislation, school board proposals and in opinion essays.<\/p>\n \u2014Drafted<\/a> the model \u201cStudent Privacy Act\u201d legislation that led to a wave of \u201cbathroom bills\u201d in 2017.<\/p>\n \u2014Defended<\/a> state-enforced sterilization for transgender Europeans, arguing in an intervention (similar to an amicus brief) in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that anti-discrimination protections and rights to privacy outlined in the ECHR do not extend to LGBTQ people and, specifically to transgender Europeans.<\/p>\n \u2014For years has promoted<\/a> the idea of \u201chomosexual agenda,\u201d a purportedly evil plan to abolish Christianity and, eventually, civilization through LGBTQ people\u2019s efforts to secure legal equality.<\/p>\n \u2014As a response to the nationwide \u201cDay of Silence,\u201d a nationwide, student-led demonstration in support of LGBTQ people in schools, launched<\/a> a so-called \u201cDay of Truth,\u201d to mobilize anti-LGBTQ students.<\/p>\n \u2014Falsely declared<\/a> that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia. ADF promoted a book by Alan Sears (former ADF president) and Craig Osten, titled The Homosexual Agenda<\/em>, which claimed that LGBTQ activists are attempting to \u201cindoctrinate children\u201d as early as kindergarten. The book falsely and baselessly claims \u201chomosexual behavior on college campuses is taking a dangerous new turn\u2014the promotion of sexual relations between adults and children, known as pedophilia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014Filed an amicus brief<\/a> in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas<\/em> case, in which the Supreme Court ruled outlawing private sexual acts between LGBTQ adults is unconstitutional. ADF argued that same-sex sexual activity must remain illegal.\u201dThe issue under rational-basis review is not whether Texas should be concerned about opposite-sex sodomy, but whether it is reasonable to believe that same-sex sodomy is a distinct public health problem. It clearly is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014Supported<\/a> the criminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and internationally. Opposed LGBTQ equality efforts, opposed pro-LGBTQ legislation, or supported anti-LGBTQ legislation in Belize, Italy, Austria, Northern Ireland, France, Mexico, Chile, Hungary, Romania, Jamaica, Australia, Colombia, Russia, and Slovakia.<\/p>\n \u2014Recipients of huge sums of \u201cdark money\u201d in an effort to kill the Equality Act, which would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ people in most settings. According to leaked tax filings the National Christian Charitable Foundation (NCF), the largest Christian charity in the United States, granted nearly $6.6 million<\/a> to ADF in 2018.<\/p>\n \u2014Represented<\/a> three high school cisgender track athletes in a case arguing against trans inclusion in Connecticut.\u00a0 ADF\u2019s client, a cisgender athlete, won 11 state titles<\/a> and received a college scholarship<\/a>, which her trans competitors did not. After a judge dismissed<\/a> the case, the cis plaintiff misgendered her trans competitor and falsely claimed she was a victim of censorship<\/a> as her ghostwritten-by-ADF essay was corrected to remove inaccurate misgendering.<\/p>\n \u2014Has ties to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Five times since 2011, ADF\u00a0paid<\/a> Barrett to deliver speeches to the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a summer program run by ADF, established to inspire a \u201cdistinctly Christian worldview in every area of law.\u201d<\/p>\nADF\u2019s anti-LGBTQ record includes:<\/h2>\n