Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an American conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of advocating, training, and funding on the issues of "religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family." The ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and runs a "Center for Academic Freedom" in Nashville, Tennessee. It also has six branch offices, located in Sacramento, California; Lawrenceville, Georgia; Shreveport, Louisiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Washington, D.C., and Olathe, Kansas.
The organization is deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Video Alliance Defending Freedom
History
ADF was incorporated in 1993 by Bill Bright (founder, Campus Crusade for Christ), Larry Burkett (founder, Crown Financial Ministries), James Dobson (founder, Focus on the Family), D. James Kennedy (founder, Coral Ridge Ministries), Marlin Maddoux (president, International Christian Media), and William Pew.
On July 9, 2012, the Alliance Defense Fund changed its name to Alliance Defending Freedom. The name change was a strategic initiative designed to reflect the organization's shift in focus from funding allied attorneys to litigating cases.
ADF's President, CEO, and General Counsel was Alan Sears, until 2017. Sears was the staff executive director of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, popularly known as the Meese Commission. In January 2017, Michael Farris became the new CEO.
Maps Alliance Defending Freedom
Positions
ADF supports the inclusion of invocations at public meetings and the use of religious displays (such as crosses and other religious monuments) on public lands and in public buildings. The ADF opposes abortion, and believes that healthcare workers have a right to decline participation in the performance of abortions and other practices an individual health worker finds morally objectionable. ADF opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions, as well as adoption by same-sex couples based on their belief that children are best raised by a married mother and father. ADF believes parents should be able to opt their children out of sex education in schools that run counter to a family's religious beliefs.
ADF has been involved in various cases that have been heard by the United States Supreme Court, including Rosenberger v. University of Virginia, Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York, and Boy Scouts of America v. Dale. ADF represented a litigant in Perry v. Schwarzenegger in which the Supreme Court ruling in effect allowed same-sex marriage to proceed in California. ADF was also involved in Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark gay rights case that overturned laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity. ADF lawyers argued against overturning those laws, describing gay men as diseased and as public health risks.
The international branch, ADF International, argued for European countries to be allowed to prohibit changing genders on government-issued identification documents unless the individual has been sterilized.
Criticism
The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the organization an anti-LGBT hate group and described it as "virulently anti-gay". The SPLC's describes the group's mission as "making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally"; the group and its representatives have repeatedly engaged in defamation of and scare tactics against LGBT communities and persons in the USA, says NBC.
In July 2017 US Attorney General Jeff Sessions was criticised for speaking at a closed ADF meeting. A representative of the Human Rights Campaign was quoted as saying that ""The attorney general has every right to speak to a group like Alliance Defending Freedom. "What troubles us is that his remarks are being kept hidden from the public at the same time he has been tasked by the President with issuing religious discrimination policies that ADF has long promoted." CNN requested a transcript but was refused. A spokesperson for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, responding to the same issue, stated that "ADF is the most extreme anti-gay legal organization--so extreme that it does not concede even that gay or transgender people should be permitted to exist as such." The speech was released at The Federalist (website) on July 13, 2017.
Finances
ADF is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. It had a budget of $9 million in 1999. ADF reported a total revenue of $61.9 million for the year ending June 30, 2015, and net assets of $39.9 million.
Donors include the Covenant Foundation, the Bolthouse Foundation, the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, one of largest charities in the Pacific Northwest, donated nearly $1 million to ADF from 2007 to 2016.
Day of Truth
The Alliance Defending Freedom states that it established the Day of Truth "to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective." The Day of Truth is held annually following the Day of Silence, which is organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
The ADF claims that students who have attempted to speak against same-sex relationships and behavior have been censored or, in some cases, punished for their actions under campus hate-speech rules, such as Chase Harper, a high school student whose activism sparked the first Day of Truth. Harper was suspended for wearing a T-shirt that read "Be Ashamed" and "Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned," and on the back read, "Homosexuality is Shameful" and "Romans 1:27." The ADF filed an unsuccessful federal lawsuit against school officials on behalf of Harper, claiming his religious freedoms were violated. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Day of Truth was first organized in 2005. According to ADF, over 1,100 students in 350 schools participated in the first Day of Truth.
ADF announced that beginning in 2009, it had passed on its leadership role in the Day of Truth to an ex-gay organization, Exodus International, who has prepared the resources for the event. On October 6, Exodus International stated they will no longer be supporting or leading the Day of Truth.
On November 11, 2010, evangelical Christian organization Focus on the Family announced it had acquired the Day of Truth event and was renaming it to the Day of Dialogue.
Notable cases
The Alliance Defending Freedom, working with other socially conservative organizations and Christian groups, as well as allied litigators, litigates cases involving religious freedom, abortion issues, and same-sex marriage.
- Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995). ADF provided funding to defend a student newspaper which was denied university funding due to its religious nature. The case was litigated all the way to the Supreme Court.
- Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001). The ADF assisted in this case in which the Supreme Court ruled that religious clubs must be afforded equal access to school facilities.
- Williams v. Vidmar (2004). In November 2004, the ADF filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Cupertino, California elementary school teacher against his school principal and school board members. The lawsuit was settled without money changing hands and without changes in school policies.
- Perry v. Schwarzenegger. ADF represented Proposition 8 proponents ProtectMarriage.com in the Federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the proposition, which limited marriage in California to one man and one woman. Their participation generated some criticism. The religious rights law firm Liberty Counsel, which has litigated opposition to same-sex marriage in California since 2004, criticized Alliance Defense Fund's handling of the case. "ADF presented only two witnesses at trial, following the 15 witnesses presented by those who challenged Proposition 8. Even Judge Walker commented that he was concerned by the lack of evidence presented by ADF on behalf of Prop 8."
- The ADF defended Elane Photography in its appeal of being found in violation of the New Mexico Human Rights Act for refusing to photograph a 2006 civil commitment ceremony. In August 2013 the New Mexico Supreme Court found in favor of Willock and that the photographer was in violation of the act.
- The ADF served as co-counsel defending Sally Howe Smith, Court Clerk for Tulsa County (Oklahoma), whose denial of a marriage license to a same-sex couple was challenged in Bishop v. Oklahoma. Smith lost in U.S. District Court in January 2014.
- The ADF represented Dr. Mike Adams in a lawsuit against University of North Carolina Wilmington. A first amendment victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit opened the door to a civil trial in which Adams was also victorious. The case concerned denial of promotion to full professor due to constitutionally-protected speech.
- In Bostic v. Rainey, the ADF represented Ms. Michele McQuigg, defendant-intervenor in her official capacity as Prince William County Clerk of Circuit Court; the defendants lost in US District Court in February 2014.
- The ADF defended Virginia's laws against a challenge to the prohibition on same sex marriage, but lost an appeal in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, July 28, 2014; they have stated that they plan to appeal the ruling.
- Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York (2012). The ADF lost this case challenging New York City's prohibition on holding worship services in the City's public schools, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case three separate times.
- Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and Arlene's Flowers lawsuit (2016-2017) Both lawsuits, pitting LGBT rights against the First Amendment Freedom of Expression, were originaly lost and have been appealed to the Supreme court. The ADF represents the defendants.
See also
- American Civil Rights Union
- Center for Individual Rights
- Christian Legal Society
- Focus on the Family
- Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
- Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York
References
Further reading
- Sears, Alan; Craig Osten (2005). The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values. B&H Books. ISBN 978-0-8054-4045-4.
- Sears, Alan; Craig Osten (2003). The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today. B&H Books. ISBN 978-0-8054-2698-4.
External links
- Alliance Defense Fund, official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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