Alliance Defending Freedom: The Face of Anti-LGBT Hate

As noted in previous posts, the Trump/Pence Department of Justice under the very racist and very homophobic Jeff Sessions (my experiences with Sessions date all the way back to the late 1970's/early 1980s) is pushing a so-called task force to protect "religious liberty," a euphemism used to mask the agenda of the far right Christians to exempt themselves from non-discrimination laws and public accommodation laws. A piece in Rewire News (formerly Religion Dispatches)  

At the summit, DOJ attorneys assured attendees they are protecting the religious rights of everyone in the United States, all while conservative Christian politicians and advocates voiced a need for stepped-up federal protections beyond those they already enjoy. It was also a forum for Sessions to announce the next phase of Trump’s May 2017 executive order: a task force that will likely implement those very protections and, in doing so, safeguard conservative Christians’ ability to discriminate against vulnerable groups.

With the highest incidence of religious based discrimination and hate crimes being against Muslims, the summit acted as if this reality did not exist and made it clear that if one is Hindu, gay, or of some non-Christian faith, one would be treated as if invisible by the task force. A driving force behind this special rights for Christofascists agenda is Alliance Defending Freedom, a certified anti-gay hate group that for years has disseminated malicious falsehoods against the LGBT community both in America and abroad and, which if it could, would criminalize homosexuality.  A piece in The Advocate looks at the sinister specter behind the DOJ's agenda.  Here are highlights:

One hate group that compares LGBTQ people to pedophiles is laying the groundwork to usher in a new age in this country where civil rights laws are rendered moot. And unless we stand in their way, they are going to win.

NO GAYS ALLOWED was plastered onto a storefront in Tennessee after the United States Supreme Court ruled that the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop would have his case reheard by Colorado officials over his refusal to make cakes for same-sex weddings. The court did not rule that businesses can ban LGBTQ people. But, the reaction in Tennessee to this ruling gave us a glimpse into the future we are headed toward. It is a future where LGBTQ people are refused services at stores, turned away from jobs, and denied care at hospitals. Things that, all too often happen today but may soon be court sanctioned and brought to you by America’s most successful anti-LGBTQ hate group: the Alliance Defending Freedom.

ADF’s version of religious freedom is not the idea that one may believe or worship as one pleases. For them, it means a cakeshop owner can turn away a gay couple, as Phillips did, that a doctor can decline to treat someone if they deem someone morally offensive, and even a teacher can refuse to call a transgender student by their name.

ADF’s been designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate-group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They’ve advocated for the criminalization of LGBTQ people in the United States and abroad.

It’s founder, Alan Sears, while president of ADF, published a book that falsely claimed being gay was “intrinsically linked” to pedophilia. Sears’s book was on ADF’s legal fellows reading list as recently as 2015.

The group also appears to have close ties to the Trump administration, and their clients frequently speak at government events about ADF-style religious freedom. In January, Sara Hellwege, an ADF client, praised ADF as she spoke at the Department of Health and Human Services’ announcement that it would attempt to allow doctors’ morality to determine which patients will be treated. On July 30, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the creation of a so-called Religious Liberty Task Force, he mentioned Jack Phillips three times in his speech before Phillips spoke at the event. Former ADF staffers now working for Sessions are believed to have helped in the creation of this task force.

It seems even more likely that ADF will rack up anti-LGBTQ victories with the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. If Trump’s pick, Brett Kavanaugh, replaces Kennedy, he will be the fifth hard-right justice on the court.

The group has become so emboldened from their legal victories that on July 17, ADF declared it will charge forward with a “proactive defense of freedom” and challenge the constitutionality of non-discrimination laws as soon as they are signed into law.

We know what ADF is doing, their playbook is simply: Push lots of small cases, make ties with federal leaders, and claim they don’t support discrimination — it’s just a minor byproduct of religious freedom. Where we fail is that instead of taking on ADF directly, the LGBTQ movement tackles each case, government edict, and ADF victory separately, never tying it all together to ADF’s overall strategy, sometimes not even mentioning ADF’s involvement at all.

Without this bigger picture the simple truth gets lost: a hate-group is trying to find any argument it can to justify discrimination against LGBTQ people. Period.

Why Alliance Defending Freedom Is A Hate Group

The latest tactic of anti-LGBT hate groups is to lie - lying is one of their hallmarks - and claim that they are being persecuted and slandered because of their religious beliefs.  The tactic is part of the organized effort to create the myth in America that Christians are facing persecution and, therefore, need to have "religious freedom" laws enacted in their favor.  As noted numerous times, these laws are in fact a license to discriminate and simply allow Christofascists to exempt themselves from non-discrimination laws and ordinances.  They undermine the rule of law and establish a de facto national religion in the form of extremist Christianity.  The Southern Poverty Law Center has a piece that looks at what these hate groups all have in common: spreading know lies and untruths and working endlessly to subject LGBT citizens to discrimination and, sometimes, criminalization.  It is a part of the Christofascists effort to destroy anything and anyone who does not comport with their fear and based beliefs and/or might make others question such beliefs.  Here are highlights from the piece which shows the deliberate dishonesty and viciousness of Alliance Defending Freedom (the same agenda applies to Family Research Council and a host of "family values" groups):

In 2016, The Southern Poverty Law Center added the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF; formerly Alliance Defense Fund until 2012) to its list of anti-LGBT hate groups.

The designation is a result of ADF’s propagation of known falsehoods about LGBT people over the years (including the conspiracy theory that there is a “homosexual agenda” or “homosexual legal agenda” to undermine “the family” and Christianity), its demonization of LGBT people, its support of criminalization of gay sex in the U.S. and abroad and its continued attempts to create state and local policies and legislation (so-called “religious liberty” laws) that allow Christians to deny goods and services to LGBT people in the public sphere and marginalize LGBT students in schools.

The SPLC does not name groups to its anti-LGBT hate list simply for having biblical objections to homosexuality or for opposing same-sex marriage.

Founded by some 30 leaders of the Christian Right, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that specializes in supporting the recriminalization of homosexuality abroad, ending same-sex marriage, and generally making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally. . . . . Since its founding, the ADF has expanded its operations abroad as it battles abortion, LGBT equality, and what it considers the “myth” of the separation of church and state.

The ADF’s longstanding antipathy toward LGBT people has become public through its work on lawsuits, various statements it has made, and materials it has offered on its website over the years. It has also promoted the idea of a “homosexual agenda” — a nefarious scheme to destroy Christianity and, eventually, civilization through LGBT people’s efforts to secure equality under the law. To those who believe in this conspiracy theory, LGBT people are not really seeking equality; rather, they are actually seeking to destroy such things as Christianity, the family and culture.

ADF Senior Counsel Erik Stanley at the Gospel, Homosexuality, and the Future of Marriage conference, 2014:  “Alliance Defending Freedom seeks to recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries.

Alan Sears, then-president of ADF (he was president until January, 2017) publishes a book he co-wrote with then-ADF colleague Craig Osten titled The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today, which was heavily advertised for sale on the ADF website and offered in fundraising pitches for years. The book is the authors’ attempt to describe how far the conspiracy of “the homosexual agenda” has infiltrated the country and undermined Christianity through things like media and educational institutions. Sears and Osten described the media campaign conducted by LGBT activists in the 70s and 80s (as summarized in the account After The Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s) to "a war of propaganda, just as Hitler did so masterfully in Nazi Germany."

Sears and Osten also claim that homosexual activists are attempting to “indoctrinate children” as early as kindergarten. (p. 52)  The authors link homosexuality to pedophilia . . . .

Lawrence v. Texas amicus briefs . . . ADF files two friend-of-the-court briefs in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case, which struck down anti-LGBT sodomy laws in the United States. Both briefs support retaining criminalization. One, with ADF attorney Glen Lavy, is a litany of graphic descriptions of sex acts and how dangerous same-sex sexual activity is (more so than opposite-sex sodomy, the brief argues), ultimately claiming that the state (Texas) should continue to criminalize same-sex sexual acts in the interest of public health and “morality.”

A pamphlet titled “The Truth about Homosexual Marriage” — available on the ADF’s website — claims that same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships are dangerous to children. . . . . The pamphlet promotes ex-gay ministry Exodus (Exodus International shut down in 2013) for its role in “helping thousands of individuals stop homosexual behavior.”

According to the ADF website, “The homosexual legal agenda is one of the greatest threats to religious freedom in America today.” The strategy of proponents of this agenda “is twofold: dilute moral values so that homosexual behavior is thought to be normal, natural and good, while suppressing the religious and free speech rights of those who disagree.” Clearly, the ADF says, “The homosexual agenda is at odds with religious freedom.”

Alan Sears speaks in a plenary session (PDF) at the anti-LGBT World Congress of Families gathering in Madrid, Spain. The session is titled “The Homosexual Agenda” and Sears states that, “the homosexual legal agenda” reveals “an extremism that seeks out and persecutes any soul, in any corner of our society, who refuses to publicly embrace and aggressively promote homosexual behavior.”

ADF attorney Piero Tozzi addresses (PDF) an anti-LGBT conference in Jamaica, where he voices his support for the continued imposition of the Jamaican anti-sodomy law which, he says, is a “the bulwark” against a “larger agenda” and falsely links childhood trauma to homosexuality.

ADF attorney Erik Stanley speaks in Tennessee at a conference titled “The Gospel, Homosexuality and the Future of Marriage” where he pushes the myth that Matthew Shepard’s brutal murder was “fabricated” and had nothing to do with his homosexuality. Rather, the story about his murder being a hate crime was to advance the “homosexual legal agenda.”
 ADF sends a letter to school districts around the country stating that no school is legally beholden to implement trans-inclusive policies and allow trans students to access bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender with which they identify. The letter denies the gender identity of such students and claims that such inclusive policies are allowing opposite sex students to access the facilities, which is “dangerous.”

ADF legal counsel Douglas Wardlow testifies in an Anoka-Hennepin school board meeting in Minnesota against allowing trans students to access facilities in accordance with their gender identities. Prior to his testimony, he sent a letter to the board in which he used the discredited research of Mark Regnerus and Paul McHugh to falsely claim that protecting trans students from discrimination is not supported by medical science (it is).

ADF's lies are endless.  Here in Virginia, The Family Foundation spreads the same untruths and amazingly to date has escaped a formal hate group designation, perhaps because its propaganda is limited to within Virginia.  Both groups seek to spread anti-LGBT hatred and to give Christian extremists special rights and need to be recognized as a menace to true religious freedom. 

.  

LGBT Americans Should be Terrified by Trump's Administration

I continue to encounter "friends" who voted for Donald Trump some of whom continue to defend their vote by claimed ignorance of Trump's anti-LGBT stances during the election campaign and/or Trump's over the top self-prostitution to some of the foulest elements of the radical Christofascists. For such individuals I hold little sympathy and take the position that if you were too lazy to educate yourself about with whom Trump was climbing in bed with, why should I simple forgive you for putting my civil rights and safety at risk?  If you don't know the positions of a candidate and/or who they have aligned them self with, I recommend not voting.  Others seem to realize the stab in the back they have given to their LGBT friends and neighbors and are trying to make amends through extra friendliness.  Sadly, such efforts will not undo the damage that has been done. A final group justify their betrayal by saying they merely voted for "change." Putting a pistol to one's head and pulling the trigger would also usher in "change," but not a positive one.   Metro Weekly has a piece that compiles all the reasons that LGBT Americans should be terrified by the oncoming Trump administration. "Friends" who voted for Trump need to read the entire piece.  Here are excerpts that look at five (5) of the scariest Trump nominees:  

It’s a tale of two Donalds, or perhaps a strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, when it comes to the president-elect’s stance on LGBT rights.

During the campaign, Trump tried to position himself as a more reliable defender of LGBT rights than Hillary Clinton. In 2015, he said that sexual orientation shouldn’t be a reason to be fired. He said that he’d allow transgender reality star Caitlyn Jenner to use whichever bathroom she preferred if she were to visit Trump Tower. He vowed to keep LGBT people — along with other Americans — safe from the threat of ISIS. He even waved a rainbow Pride flag given to him by a supporter at one of his rallies as a show of support for the LGBT community.

Yet for all his pandering, Trump has also catered to the Religious Right, courted evangelical voters, and touted his opposition to same-sex marriage and reproductive rights. He supported North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory when he tried to justify signing the anti-LGBT bill HB 2. And Trump has referred to allowing LGBT people to serve openly in the military as “political correctness.”

That’s why so many eyes are fixed on his selections for various cabinet positions — and why some observers are getting close to hitting the “panic” button.

The first warning signs came with Trump’s selection of his close advisers, none of whom require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Steve Bannon, the former chairman of the alt-right website Breitbart News, has a history of expressing anti-gay sentiment and promoting stories with anti-LGBT viewpoints. Reince Priebus, the outgoing head of the Republican National Committee, has spent the past few years leading a party that enshrined anti-LGBT attitudes into its official platform. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn opposed allowing openly gay service members in the military, and criticized the Obama administration’s decision to lift the ban on transgender service members . . . .

Several of Trump’s other picks — who must be confirmed by the Senate — pose a much greater threat to LGBT rights. Here, from most severe to least, are Trump’s confirmable (or rejectable) nominees that every LGBT person should be watching closely.

Jeff Sessions - Position Nominated For: Attorney General
LGBT Record: As senator from Alabama, Sessions opposed same-sex marriage, employment nondiscrimination legislation, partner benefits, lifting the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and adding LGBT people to protected classes under the nation’s hate crime laws. When he was Attorney General of Alabama, Sessions attempted to use his office to stop the University of Alabama from hosting an LGBT conference, even taking the university to court to defend a law that prohibited using public money to fund, in any way, a group that promotes “actions prohibited by the [state’s] sodomy and sexual misconduct laws.” 
 As Attorney General, it’s doubtful whether Sessions will enforce the nation’s hate crime laws in instances where people have been victimized because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Other concerns involve the government’s future position on court cases revolving around LGBT rights. 

Tom Price - Position Nominated For: Secretary of Health and Human Services
LGBT Record: Price, a conservative congressman from the Atlanta suburbs, has accrued a vehemently anti-LGBT voting record during his six terms in Congress. He boasts a 0% rating for his voting record on the Human Rights Campaign’s congressional scorecard. He’s voted against an LGBT-inclusive version of the Violence Against Women Act, against workplace protections for LGBT employees, and LGBT-inclusive hate crime protections. He has been a vocal supporter of state bans prohibiting same-sex marriage. 

He has suggested that any social legislation, such as bills to advance LGBT rights, not be passed until a thorough examination has been completed of the cost of potential health problems that could arise from “promoting” homosexuality.

As head of Health and Human Services, Price could be influenced by his extreme views and place LGBT-related research or HIV-related research on the back burner. Issues of whether insurance companies must cover certain surgical procedures may also come to a head under a Price-led HHS department. Lastly, Price is a fierce opponent of the Affordable Care Act and has called for its complete repeal. This could be problematic for LGBT people with pre-existing conditions or low-income people who get their insurance — and subsidies to pay for it — through the Obamacare health exchanges.
 Ben Carson - Position Nominated For: Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
LGBT Record: As a presidential candidate, Carson established himself as a doctrinaire social conservative with anti-LGBT views. Among Carson’s more inflammatory statements are that same-sex behavior by prisoners proves homosexuality is a choice, that gay marriage was responsible for the fall of the Roman Empire, and that transgender people cannot change their assigned sex at birth anymore than they can change their ethnicity. He has compared same-sex marriage to bestiality, compared gay people to pedophiles, and said that same-sex marriage is a Marxist plot to destroy America’s moral foundations.
 [O]ne of the likely targets of a Carson-run HUD may be a recent update to the Equal Access Rule for shelters. Under the rule, adopted in September, shelters that operate single-sex facilities or sex-specific projects must provide all individuals, including transgender and gender nonconforming people, with access to programs, benefits, services and accommodations based on their gender identity.  . . . If Carson is given free reign, these protections could be repealed.
 Mike Pompeo - Position Nominated For: Director of the CIA
LGBT Record: During his three terms in Congress, U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo has largely been opposed to LGBT rights. . . . . He is a supporter of legislation that could potentially allow individuals and businesses to discriminate against LGBT people under the guise of “religious freedom.” He also voted against an LGBT-inclusive version of the Violence Against Women Act. Betsy DeVos - Position Nominated For: Secretary of Education
LGBT Record: DeVos  . . . and her husband have donated to Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group that opposes LGBT rights. Focus on the Family also promotes conversion therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation or curbing the behavior of LGBT people and those with same-sex attraction. Other members of her extended family have donated to other anti-LGBT causes . . .
 The chief issue with a DeVos-run Department of Education would likely be the position that the department adopts with respect to transgender students and whether they are protected under Title IX. DeVos’ position on the Obama administration’s current guidance for school administrators is unknown, but her ties to right-wing groups have led transgender advocates to call on Trump to rescind her nomination. Another issue that may arise would be the use of federal education funds, in the form of vouchers, to support private schools that encourage conversion therapy for LGBT-identifying youth.

 For my white, heterosexual Christian "friends" I would ask that for a moment they put themselves in the shoes of LGBT citizens who now have to worry about their rights being attacked or rescinded.  Remeber, some of these nominees support groups that would re-criminalize being gay.  Would you be sleeping well at night?  I doubt it.