Alliance Defending Freedom
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group[6] that works to expand Christian religious liberties and practices within public schools and in government,[7][8] outlaw abortion,[9][10] and oppose LGBTQ rights.[11] ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with branch offices in several locations including Washington, D.C., and New York.[12] Its international subsidiary, Alliance Defending Freedom International, with headquarters in Vienna, Austria,[13] operates in over 100 countries.[14]
ADF is one of the most organized and influential Christian legal interest groups in the United States[15] based on its budget, caseload, network of allied attorneys, and connections to significant members of the political right.[16][17][18] Mike Johnson, a former ADF attorney,[19][20] was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives on October 25, 2023.[21][22] Others who have been associated with ADF include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett,[16][23] former vice president Mike Pence,[24] former attorneys general William Barr[25] and Jeff Sessions,[17][26] and Senator Josh Hawley.[27][28]
ADF attorneys have argued a number of cases before the Supreme Court, taking positions including support for religious activity in public school and Christian prayer at town meetings, narrowing insurance coverage for contraceptives, prohibiting same-sex marriage, and supporting businesses in the wedding industry that refuse to service gay marriages.[29] ADF lawyers wrote the model for Mississippi's anti-abortion legislation, leading to the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overrule Roe v. Wade that had established a right to abortion in America in 1973.[30]
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designates ADF as an anti-LGBT hate group, saying in 2017 that since the election of President Donald Trump ADF had become "one of the most influential groups informing the [Trump] administration's attack on LGBTQ rights."[11][31] The ADF has taken many anti-LGBT positions: it opposes same-sex marriage, decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity, and anti-discrimination laws, and takes an active role in writing model anti-transgender bills for state legislators.[11][32][33]
Reception[edit]
Principal concerns of the ADF have been prohibiting abortion and opposing gay rights. Several founding members wrote books condemning homosexuality, including longtime president Alan Sears, who authored the 2003 book The Homosexual Agenda,[150][151] and Marlin Malloux, who wrote 1994's Answers to the Gay Deception.[152] D. James Kennedy dismissed same-sex marriage as "counterfeit"[153] and promoted pseudoscientific conversion therapy,[154] while James Dobson helped launch a ministry aiming to help gay people "overcome" homosexuality.[155][156]
Some opponents of the Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement have voiced concern about permitting churches to endorse politicians because it would allow political donors to remain anonymous and to get tax breaks for their donations.[157] Unlike other non-profits, churches aren't required to make financial disclosures, so churches endorsing politicians could act as funnels for anonymous campaign donations, or "dark money".[63]
The Southern Poverty Law Center listed the organization as an extremist anti-LGBTQ hate group in 2016. The group's designation "was a judgment call that went all the way up to top leadership at the SPLC."[158] According to the SPLC, the ADF was included on the list due to the group's filing of an amicus brief in the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, in which the ADF expressed support for upholding the state's right to criminalize consensual sexual acts between people of the same sex.[34] The SPLC has described the ADF as "virulently anti-gay".[11][159] The SPLC describes the group's mission as "making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally."[34] The ADF has opposed its inclusion on the SPLC's list, with senior counsel Jeremy Tedesco describing it as "a stranglehold on conservative and religious groups that is just hovering over us and that can continue to constrict and limit our ability to simply voice our opinion."[158] Farris has called the SPLC's designation of ADF as a hate group a "troubling smear" and "slander".[160]
In July 2017, U.S. sitting Attorney General Jeff Sessions attended ADF's Summit on Religious Liberty. Sessions said, "While your clients vary from pastors to nuns to geologists, all of us benefit from your good work." LGBTQ rights groups criticized Sessions for his participation at the event. Dominic Holden wrote in BuzzFeed News that ADF's growing influence within the federal government can be attributed to Sessions' support.[26][17]
