Since 2020, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has made headlines for a series of sweeping decisions that have rolled back rights for women and LGBTQ people. They’ve ruled to allow abortion bans in 13 states and bans on trans athletes in 27 states. And this year, Colorado overturned its ban on conversion therapy for minors. 

What headlines tend to miss, though, is that all of these decisions were won by the same legal group: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Labeled as an anti-LGBTQ hate group and active in over 80 countries, ADF is a conservative Christian legal powerhouse, having fought relentlessly against abortion, gay marriage and trans healthcare since its inception in 1994. 

Boasting alumni and affiliates such as Mike Johnson, Amy Coney Barrett, Josh Hawley and Ken Starr, the group has been involved in at least 80 SCOTUS victories and directly represented parties in 20 of them, including the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Here is every move ADF has made on LGBTQ issues since it was founded 32 years ago.

Jan. 31, 1994

ADF, then called Alliance Defense Fund, is introduced to the public at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Washington, D.C., as a Christian counter to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Alan Sears, co-author of “The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today” and former federal prosecutor under the Reagan Administration, is named president and CEO. James Dobson, the founder of Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)-designated anti-LGBTQ hate group Focus on the Family, is a co-founder, along with several other conservative Christian men.

June 29, 1995

In a 5-4 decision, SCOTUS rules in Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia that state universities may not withhold funding from religious student publications. ADF provides financial backing to Wide Awake: A Christian Perspective, the campus magazine at the center of the lawsuit.

The case becomes an early model for ADF’s strategy of financing carefully selected cases with the goal of establishing nationwide precedent concerning the expansion of religious rights that override anti-discrimination policies.

1997

ADF establishes its Allied Attorney network, which recruits and trains Christian attorneys in constitutional law. The network allows ADF to participate in substantially more litigation than it could when it relied on in-house staff.

Today, there are over 5,000 attorneys within the network who are directed to “provide pro bono, dedicated service to the Body of Christ” and “to fight boldly for Generational Wins on five fronts—religious freedom, the sanctity of life, free speech, marriage and family, and parental rights.” These attorneys have included shareholders in the biggest law firms in the country; former Attorneys General Kevin Clarkson of Alaska and Timothy Fox of Montana; director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice Kerri Kupec; and some federal judges.

2000

ADF launches the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a summer internship program that provides legal training for Christian law students. Blackstone’s curriculum includes Sears’ “The Homosexual Agenda” and “The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values.”

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., have both worked for Blackstone in the past.

June 28, 2000

In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, SCOTUS decides 5-4 that the Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to bar gay people from serving as troop leaders. ADF helps fund and coordinate amicus briefs supporting the Boy Scouts.

June 26, 2003

In a 6-3 decision, SCOTUS strikes down sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas. Before the ruling, ADF files an amicus brief in support of Texas, writing that banning same-sex conduct is a matter of rational public health policy and that “same-sex behavior is not like a racial classification when it comes to establishing equal protection claims.” The filing argues that the nature of anal sex is a further argument for the ban:

“One reason that men who have sex with men are at high risk of STDs is the nature of anal sex. … The nature of the anus and rectum and the trauma that may accompany receptive anal sex makes anal sex an efficient mode of transmitting disease.”

April 14, 2005

In response to the “Day of Silence,” a campaign created in 1996 to spread awareness about the bullying LGBTQ students face, ADF launches “Day of Truth,” an annual campaign that encourages Christian students to express opposition to homosexuality at school. ADF provides students with talking points to portray opposition to homosexuality as a matter of religious freedom. Current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, then an ADF attorney, says at the time of being gay: “You can call it sinful or destructive — ultimately it’s both.”

2008

ADF launches ADF International (ADFI), a legal group conducting targeted advocacy in major international institutions. Currently, ADFI says it has 662 open matters, 40 wins at the European Court of Human Rights and more than an 80% success rate. Central to their agenda is opposition to abortion, marriage equality, trans rights and legalization of gay sex.

Nov. 4, 2008

In a blow to gay rights, California voters approve Proposition 8, amending the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. ADF is a central legal participant in the campaign.

June 28, 2010

In Christian Legal Society Chapter v. Martinez, SCOTUS rules that public schools can require student organizations to accept all applicants in order to be eligible for official school recognition and funding. ADF represents a student group that requires all officers and voting members to take a mandatory faith statement and bans “unrepentant homosexual conduct.”

Jan. 18, 2012

In an interview with the National Catholic Register, Sears is asked about why he believes the so-called homosexual agenda poses a threat. In response, he says:

“Because no compromise is possible with the agenda, and those who advocate the agenda want to not only stop all disagreement — they want to punish anyone who does. It’s a form of totalitarianism.”

Feb. 7, 2012

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court decision that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. The court holds that California could not grant same-sex couples the right to marry and then withdraw that right without a legitimate governmental justification. ADF appeals the decision and the case is renamed Hollingsworth v. Perry.

Four months later, the Ninth Circuit denies the appeal to rehear the case and ADF appeals to SCOTUS, having run the gauntlet of lower-court processes. This ability to play the long game is central to ADF’s future successes.

July 9, 2012

ADF changes its name from Alliance Defense Fund to Alliance Defending Freedom. Sears says, “Our mission remains the same — defending religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family. … The emphasis remains on the word ‘alliance.’”

July 19, 2012

Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins, an engaged gay couple, visit Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, to place an order for their wedding. But the owner, Jack Phillips, denies the request, citing his religious opposition to gay marriage. The couple files a discrimination complaint under Colorado’s public-accommodations law, and ADF represents Phillips in court. ADF argues that Phillips is an artist and that free expression is uniquely tied to his business. This becomes key to ADF’s future legal battles, claiming an inextricable link between speech, faith and services provided.

Sept. 4, 2012

ADF lawyers give oral arguments at the European Court of Human Rights in Ladele and McFarlane v. United Kingdom, a case where a marriage registrar and couples’ counselor were disciplined for refusing certain services to gay couples. The court rules against both of them the following year, representing a loss for ADF and a win for gay rights in the U.K.

Dec. 11, 2012

In Ward v. Polite, graduate counseling student Julea Ward at Eastern Michigan University refuses to provide counseling to a client who requested it for their gay relationship. Ward says she refused to see the client because the issue conflicted with her Christian beliefs. After she is expelled from the graduate program, she sues the school. ADF represents Ward and the case is settled out of court.

June 26, 2013

SCOTUS hands down two landmark decisions in the fight for marriage equality. In Hollingsworth v. Perry, they rule 5-4 that Prop 8’s proponents lack standing to appeal the district court’s decision to strike down the measure. The ruling ends ADF’s attempt to preserve Prop 8 and allows gay marriages to resume in California.

June 30, 2014

In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, SCOTUS rules 5-4 that for-profit companies can deny employees health coverage for contraception they’d otherwise be entitled to based on the owner’s religious beliefs. ADF represents Conestoga Wood Specialties, whose case is consolidated with Hobby Lobby’s.

The ruling strengthens the legal principle underlying ADF’s LGBTQ work: that religious objections may entitle private entities to exemptions from generally applicable federal requirements.

Aug. 11, 2014

ADF sends an email to the American College of Pediatricians, another SPLC-designated hate group, requesting that they produce research that could help support anti-trans litigation. It requests support for several arguments that would later become its key talking points:

• “Substantiate the psychological harm that can befall both sexes (but girls/women especially) by having their right to bodily privacy invaded by males.”
• “Substantiate that it is normal during adolescence for children to go through a phase when they identify (to some degree) with the opposite sex.”
• “Substantiate the physiological differences between males and females as they relate to sports.”
• “For those who have undergone hormone therapy and genital change surgery, a paper that says they are no happier (and perhaps worse off if the research supports it) even though they took these drastic measures.”
• “Biological/medical paper on the many differences (brain, anatomy, physiology, etc) between the sexes from the earliest stages of human development and moving forward. This would help substantiate the point that a person’s brain is not and cannot be hard-wired to be an opposite sex than the sex his or her chromosomes, DNA, and anatomy say he or she is.”

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Feb. 4, 2015

ADF drafts the Student Physical Privacy Act, a piece of model legislation that serves as the basis for trans bathroom bans across the country. Bills with language closely mirroring their legislation would later be introduced in several states, including Kansas, North Carolina, Nevada and Minnesota.