Alliance Defending Freedom is a Hate Group

Photo: On August 15th, participants in a protest led by the Phoenix branch of the National Mobilization for Reproductive Justice demonstrated in front of the headquarters of Alliance Defending Freedom in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Why is Alliance Defending Freedom a Hate Group?

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) defines a hate group as an organization that has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people. The SPLC looks at an organization's official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities. The organizations on the SPLC's hate group list vilify others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. The FBI uses similar criteria in its definition of a hate crime.

Founded by 30 leaders of the Christian Right, the Alliance Defending Freedom supports the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad. The group has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad. It contends that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia. The group claims that a “homosexual agenda” will destroy Christianity and society.

In recent years, the group has been heavily focused on efforts to stop the right to abortion. It sought out a sympathetic judge for the case it brought against the distribution of a drug the FDA approved in year 2000, mifepristone, that is used in more than 50% of abortions in the US. Mifepristone is also used for miscarriage management and is safer than tylenol or viagra.