Alliance Defending Freedom
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a legal organization that advocates for the rights of Christians. ADF provides pro bono legal services in many states, including some international regions. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has listed the organization as a hate group. It operates under the belief that same-sex marriage, abortion, and religious freedom are “the defining civil rights and social issues” of our time.
The objective of Alliance Defending Freedom is to defend “a right to speak freely about biblical issues in all public places.” The statement above can mean they believe they have a right to impose their beliefs on others. ADF is a public-interest legal organization that defends the right of people to live out their faith freely.
The Center for Academic Freedom of the ADF has successfully defended students’ right to express themselves freely in over 400 cases. Michelle Gregoire handed out a miniature facsimile of the Constitution to students walking along a campus footpath. Trespassing on campus led to her and two others getting held by the security staff.
Alliance Defending Freedom focuses on defending religious freedom for Christians in the U.S. and supports criminalizing homosexuality abroad. The organization is one of many backed by conservative Christian interests. In the United States, Alliance Defending Freedom promotes Christian causes and equal rights for Christians and supports legislation to allow for discrimination against LGBT people. The group opposes same-sex marriage, abortion, and pornography. It has been involved in several lawsuits seeking to expand opportunities for Christians to discriminate on religious grounds against gays and lesbians, women who have had an abortion or gone through a divorce, single mothers, and unmarried couples living together.
In June 2011, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) classified the Alliance Defending Freedom as an anti-gay “hate group.” ADF has responded by criticizing SPLC and saying it will not be intimidated by the hate group designation. J.D. comments on that designation: “Since when does advocating for traditional marriage make a group a hate group?”
In 2003, ADF was involved in several court cases where it represented a pastor trying to use school facilities at night for worship services. In 2004, ADF unsuccessfully lobbied against a California measure that established same-sex marriage. The following year, in 2005, they were involved in representing the defendant in Doe v.
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Learn more about ADF on https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/541660459
