AFD takes cases that are anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion, and aim to expand the influence of Christianity in the United States. Its international arm, Alliance Defending Freedom International, operates in over 90 countries. ADF International provides funding to WCF, PNfV, and Agenda Europe.
Alliance Defending Freedom was founded by James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, and Alan Sears, director of the Meese Commision under Ronald Reagan. Sear’s book and speeches on the ‘homosexual agenda’ presented LGBTQ+ rights as the primary threat to religious freedom.
ADF’s most famous cases include Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. These cases have famously curtailed the rights of LGBTQ+ people and women’s rights to abortions, with Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org. being the case in which the US Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade. Across the United States, ADF has provided the framework for anti-trans bathroom bills and anti-abortion bills. Internationally, ADF supports a variety of conservative causes such as the criminalization of homosexuality in Belize. In Northern Ireland, ADF presented legal arguments defending anti-abortion laws. ADF has repeatedly provided legal counsel to Exodus International—current House Speaker Mike Johnson provided Exodus with legal advice while serving as an attorney with ADF.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett repeatedly spoke at ADF’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship summer programme. Mike Pence has previously spoken at ADF events, and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke at an ADF summit in 2018.
