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What do North Carolina’s bathroom law, Indiana’s religious freedom law, and the Hobby Lobby
case have in common? They’re all linked to the same terrifying
Christian legal organization. They’re called the Alliance Defending Freedom
(ADF), and they are terrible.
You’ve probably never heard of ADF, but you’ve definitely seen them on TV -- they’re
the group that defends all of those business owners who refuse to serve gay customers.
ADF is one of the most powerful legal organizations in the country, and they’ve been working
to roll back LGBT and abortion rights for years.
They testify against Planned Parenthood, they were involved in the Hobby Lobby case.
“You should not have to help destroy human life.”
And they argue that there’s no constitutional right to abortion. At all.
Look closely at any of the anti-LGBT or anti-abortion laws you’ve heard of over the past few years,
and you’ll probably find ADF standing somewhere in the shadows.
Arizona’s don’t-serve-the-gays law? ADF
Indiana’s religious freedom law? ADF North Carolina’s creepy bathroom law? You
guessed it. ADF
“And another called the Alliance Defending Freedom. They didn’t just push for the bill,
they also helped write the bill.”
ADF often ghostwrites these laws, and hands them over to state lawmakers, testifies on
their behalf, and then defends them in state and national media.
“She’s an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom.”
ADF’s whole media shtick is that they’re just protecting Christians who want to live
out their faith freely.
“This bill has nothing to do with discrimination. It is basically, it is protecting basic freedoms.”
Pretty harmless, right?
But off camera, they’re basically monsters. ADF opposes hate crime laws, they oppose anti-bullying
efforts, they think that gay kids are “trapped in homosexual behavior” and need be freed
of their lives of sin.
One ADF document warned that anti-bullying policies would promote “homosexual behavior”
to “impressionable” children.
Yeah, it’s that kind of group.
Seriously, this is what ADF sounds like when it thinks nobody’s listening.
“The end game of the homosexual legal agenda is unfettered *** liberty and the silencing
of all dissent.”
The group’s current president co-wrote a book comparing the gay rights movement to
Nazi Germany and claiming that *** and homosexuality are “intrinsically linked.”
But here’s where it gets really scary.
In 2003, ADF submitted a brief to the Supreme Court asking them to uphold state laws that
made it illegal to have ***.
They spent nearly 30 pages describing *** as unhealthy, harmful, and a public health
risk. They lost that case, thankfully, but that
hasn’t stopped them from exporting that work internationally.
The group has been caught in Belize and Jamaica defending extreme anti-sodomy laws -- laws
that would put gay people in jail for having sex.
“Even defending a law in Belize that makes homosexual acts punishable by 10 years in
prison.”
ADF attorneys have gone to other countries and told rooms full of lawmakers that gay
sex is “spiritually and psychologically” harmful.
On television, ADF wants people to think that they’re just a typical Christian legal organization.
“We defend marriage, religious freedom, and sanctity of life, and we want to ensure
that every person is able to speak and live their life in accordance with their sincerely
held beliefs.”
But they’re not. They’re extremists who have spent years trying to put gay people
behind bars and deny women access to basic reproductive health care.
That’s who ADF is. And that’s how news networks should identify them if they’re
going to give them group airtime.