What Is Alliance Defending Freedom?
Alliance Defending Freedom Is A Powerful "Religious Freedom" Legal Organization. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a U.S. based legal organization that works with 2,600 allied attorneys nationally on a $39 million (as of 2013) annual budget. ADF describes itself as "an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith." [CharityNavigator.org, accessed
10/28/15; Alliance Defending Freedom, accessed
10/28/15; Alliance Defending Freedom, accessed
10/28/15]
ADF Works Internationally To Criminalize Gay Sex. ADF has formally supported anti-sodomy laws since 2003 when it filed an amicus brief in
Lawrence v. Texas to defend state sodomy laws on the grounds that gay sex is unhealthy, harmful, and a public health risk. Since then, ADF has actively worked to promote and defend anti-sodomy laws that criminalize gay sex in Jamaica, Belize and India. [
Equality Matters,
11/19/14]
ADF Engages In Domestic Anti-LGBT Extremism As Well. The Southern Poverty Law Center has described ADF as "virulently anti-gay." ADF's history of anti-LGBT activism includes opposing anti-bullying efforts in schools, crusading against a gay-inclusive Boy Scouts of America and labeling the hate crime that led to the murder of Matthew Shepard -- a gay University of Wyoming student who was beaten and tortured to death -- a hoax to advance the "homosexual agenda." ADF is also the behind the current national push for anti-LGBT "religious freedom" or "RFRA" laws. [Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed
11/2/15;
Media Matters,
12/4/15;
Media Matters;
4/16/15]
ADF Is Working To Deny Transgender Students Equal Access To School Facilities
ADF Claims Non-Discrimination Protections For Transgender Students Pose A "Public Safety Risk... To Woman And To Children." ADF claims that allowing transgender students to access facilities that correspond with their gender identity would "seriously endanger students' privacy and safety," and that laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity create a "significantly increased public safety risk primarily to women and to children." [Alliance Defending Freedom,
9/09/15; Testimony of Michael J. Norton, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom,
2/4/15]
"Safety" Concerns About Transgender Non-Discrimination Protections Have Been Debunked By School Districts. The myth that protections for transgender students will cause issues of harassment or other inappropriate behavior has been thoroughly rejected by the collective experiences of officials from 17 school districts across the country. Together representing over 600,000 students, these officials all reported that they'd experienced no issues after implementing protections for transgender students in their districts. [
Media Matters, 6/3/15]
ADF Emailed School Districts Nationwide To Push A Model Policy Denying Equal Access For Transgender Students. In December 2014, ADF emailed public school districts across the nation to "advise" them of ADF's recommended "Student Physical Privacy" policy, which would prohibit transgender students from using school facilities that correspond with their gender identity. Additionally, ADF offered free legal representation to any school district that adopts ADF's policy and finds itself challenged in court (emphasis added):