Tag: Alliance Defending Freedom

National Family Group Condemns American Medical Association’s ‘Ethics’ Journal’s Support for Taxpayer-Funded Uterus Transplants in Biological Men

Susan Berry, PhD

The American Family Association (AFA) issued an alert Wednesday urging Americans to sign its petition that demands the American Medical Association (AMA) “do no harm” by ending its support for taxpayer-funded “unnatural and irreversible gender-modifying procedures,” such as uterus transplants from dead women for biological men in order to improve their “mental health.”

The petition, which, at the time of publication had collected over 25,000 signers, cites a paper, published in June, in AMA’s Journal of Ethics, that AFA asserts is “driven with political and social activism.”

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Vermont Agrees to Pay $125K to Father, Daughter Punished for Speaking Out Against Trans Student

Michigan Star Staff

A Vermont school district punished a father and his daughter for speaking out against a biological male in the girls’ locker room. Now, The Daily Signal has learned, the district has settled with the Allen family in what its legal team is hailing as a “resounding victory.”

That settlement requires that the Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust pay $125,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees and costs to Travis Allen and Jessica Allen, on behalf of their daughter, Blake Allen, and their attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom.

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Analysis: Companies That Ignore First Amendment Rights

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A new database shows that some of Americans’ favorite companies—such as Airbnb, Amazon, and Disney—disregard religious freedom and free speech. 

Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal organization devoted to protecting religious freedom and other First Amendment rights, joined with Inspire Insight, an investment tool that provides data on the religious values of companies, to produce the second annual Business Index ranking companies by Viewpoint Diversity Score. 

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Planned Parenthood CEO Calls for Supreme Court Reform: ‘The Court Now Has Been Fully Captured’ on Abortion Rights

Susan Berry, PhD

The CEO of Planned Parenthood said on Mother’s Day on MSNBC that the Supreme Court has now “been fully captured” by a “conservative supermajority” that has attacked abortion rights and, therefore, must be reformed, along with the lower courts as well.

Led by former Biden White House Press Secretary-turned MSNBC opinion host Jen Psaki, Alexis McGill Johnson said “the reality is the Court now has been fully captured in so many areas.”

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Homeless Shelter Sues State Officials Preventing It from Hiring Christian Employees

Michigan Star Staff

A Christian homeless shelter filed a lawsuit against Washington state officials Thursday alleging that the state’s anti-discrimination law prevents the shelter from only hiring employees that agree with their faith-based worldview.

Yakima Union Gospel Mission (YUGM) in Yakima, Washington, describes its mission as “helping people move from homelessness to wholeness” on its website and has been working in the community for 35 years, according to a press release by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the world’s largest law firm representing faith and free speech issues. The shelter explains in the lawsuit that the defendants, Attorney General Robert Ferguson and Executive Director of the Washington State Human Rights Commission Andreta Armstrong, have been using Washington’s anti-discrimination law to prevent the organization from hiring in line with their faith, according to the lawsuit.

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Christian Organizations Continue to Make Amazon Smile’s ‘Naughty’ List

Star News Network Staff

Amazon Smile continues to deny admission to Christian organizations that support traditional marriage and religious freedom, opting instead to place them on a proverbial naughty list by recommendation of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Amazon Smile allows customers who sign up to have 0.5% of their purchases donated to their favorite charity. Organizations on SPLC’s “designated hate groups” list, however, are barred from registering, according to Amazon’s website.

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Authorities Arrest Woman for Silently Praying Outside an Abortion Clinic

Michigan Star Staff

Authorities have arrested a pro-life woman for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in the United Kingdom.

News of Isabel Vaughan Spruce’s arrest comes amid anxieties over the Justice Department’s crackdown on pro-life activists in the United States, such as Mark Houck, a pro-life father arrested for allegedly pushing an abortion clinic volunteer who was reportedly bothering his son as they prayed outside an abortion clinic.

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University Pays Christian Students $90K to Settle Free Speech Lawsuit

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The University of Idaho (U of I) paid $90,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by three Christian students and a faculty advisor who claimed the university violated their right to free speech.

The lawsuit was filed after the university issued no-contact orders prohibiting Peter Perlot Mark Miller and Ryan Anderson, all members of the Christian Legal Society (CLS), and faculty advisor Professor Richard Seamon from interacting with a law student who disagreed with a CLS requirement that all members define marriage as between a man and a woman, according to the lawsuit’s text. U of I rescinded the no-contact orders in a settlement in favor of the legal society, ADF announced in Wednesday’s press release.

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Vermont Backs Down on Religion-Free School Choice after SCOTUS Knocks Down Maine Policy

Just the News

Vermont families that want to send their children to religious schools will no longer be excluded from the state’s tuition benefit program, as a result of legal settlements in two cases brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

The plaintiffs who were denied funding under the Town Tuition Program, which provides tuition for students who live in areas without local public schools, will get reimbursement for money spent out of pocket on tuition. Other families denied funding can apply as well.

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Lawsuit Moves Forward from Professor Fired for Gender Ideology Criticism

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A federal lawsuit against the University of Louisville for the demotion and dismissal of a professor who questioned transgenderism moved forward.

Professor Allan Josephson’s attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom argued his case the first week of November in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The university dismissed him in 2019 after several years of controversy stemming from his participation at a Heritage Foundation event on transgenderism.

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Herschel Walker Rips Biological Men Competing Against Women in Sports: ‘Unfair and Wrong’

Susan Berry, PhD

Georgia Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Herschel Walker blasts allowing biological men to compete against women in sports in a new runoff election campaign ad that features former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines.

Gaines tied with transgender athlete Lia Thomas for fifth place in the women’s 200-yard freestyle finals during this year’s NCAA championships, but was not awarded the fifth-place trophy.

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Suspended Vermont Student and Coach Father Sue School District for Retaliating After Complaint About Biological Male in Girls’ Locker Room

Susan Berry, PhD

A Vermont high school volleyball player who was suspended from school and her father, the team’s coach, who was suspended from his job, are suing the school district for retaliating against them following their complaint about the policy that allows biological males in the girls’ team locker room.

Blake Allen, 14, a student at Randolph Union Middle School, and her father, Travis Allen, who coaches his daughter’s volleyball team, spoke out against a biological male, claiming to be female, being allowed in the girls’ team locker room while they were changing. Now, the family is suing the school district after Blake was suspended and Travis was fired from his job, asserting the district retaliated against them, the Daily Signal reported Thursday.

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Democrats’ January 6th Committee Quietly Collaborating with the Left’s ‘Top Censor’

Michigan Star Staff

A left-wing nonprofit that labels conservative and Christian groups “hateful” is reportedly funneling research to the committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — which claims to be “nonpartisan.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a legal advocacy group with former employees President Joe Biden has handpicked for federal roles, is collaborating with the committee, Politico reported. The group has provided roughly 40 pages of research and written testimony to the committee to facilitate its investigation of the riot, an SPLC lawyer told the outlet.

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Democrats’ January 6th Committee Quietly Collaborating with the Left’s ‘Top Censor’

Michigan Star Staff

A left-wing nonprofit that labels conservative and Christian groups “hateful” is reportedly funneling research to the committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — which claims to be “nonpartisan.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a legal advocacy group with former employees President Joe Biden has handpicked for federal roles, is collaborating with the committee, Politico reported. The group has provided roughly 40 pages of research and written testimony to the committee to facilitate its investigation of the riot, an SPLC lawyer told the outlet.

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Christian Student Silenced by School Receives Settlement

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A college student will receive a massive settlement from his school after it tried to silence him from speaking about his faith, according to a Wednesday press release from Alliance Defending Freedom.

Georgia Gwinnett College settled with Chike Uzuegbunam for $80,000 six years after the lawsuit was first filed, which alleged that the school repeatedly denied him the right to speak about his Christian faith to other students, the press release said.

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Commentary: Ohio Professor Wins Settlement in ‘Preferred Pronoun’ Case

Michigan Star Staff

In a refreshing religious liberty result from the world of academia, free speech won and preferred pronouns lost.

A professor at Shawnee State University, in Portsmouth, Ohio, will be able to honor his conscience as a Christian who believes God created human beings as male and female and that a person’s sex cannot change, and will not be required by the school to compromise that belief when addressing students.

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Catholic Charity Can Remain Open After Court Found Michigan Violated First Amendment

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Catholic Charities West Michigan will remain open after state officials agreed under court order to pay the nonprofit’s attorney’s fees and acknowledged that taking actions against the charity for its beliefs would violate the First Amendment.

Catholic Charities prioritizes placing children up for adoption or in foster care with a married mother and father. The group filed a lawsuit with the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) after Michigan officials gave the nonprofit the ultimatum to either close its adoption and foster care ministry or change its policy prioritizing a married mother and father to receive a child.

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Supreme Court to Hear Case of Woman Forced to Create Websites for LGBT Causes Against Religious Beliefs

Michigan Star Staff

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of a web designer fighting a Colorado law that forces her to promote messages against her religious beliefs, the court announced Tuesday.

Lorie Smith of 303 Creative asked the court to review the 10th Circuits’ ruling that Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act requires Smith to engage in speech that violates her conscience, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing her.

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Web Designer Forced to Publish Messages Countering Her Religious Faith Asks Supreme Court to Hear Case

Michigan Star Staff
Person coding a website

A Colorado web designer asked the Supreme Court to take up her case challenging a state law forcing her to publish websites with messages counter to her religious beliefs.

Lorie Smith filed the petition with the Supreme Court on Friday, arguing a lower court ruling that upheld the Colorado law was wrongly decided, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the firm representing her, announced. The law compelled Smith’s speech in violation of her First Amendment rights by forcing her business 303 Creative to produce content against her beliefs, she said.

“The government shouldn’t weaponize the law to force a web designer to speak messages that violate her belief,” ADF General Counsel Kristen Waggoner said during a press call before filing the petition. “This case involves quintessential free speech and artistic freedom, which the 10th circuit astonishingly and dangerously cast aside here.”

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Pediatricians Sue Biden Administration for Requiring Doctors to Perform Trans Surgeries Against Beliefs

Michigan Star Staff

Medical professionals are suing President Joe Biden’s administration over a mandate requiring doctors to perform transgender surgeries in violation of their religious beliefs or medical judgement.

Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the American College of Pediatricians, the Catholic Medical Association and an OB-GYN doctor specializing in adolescent care filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga Thursday against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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Female Athletes Appeal Ruling Dismissing Complaints Against Biological Males In Women’s Sports

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Four female athletes are appealing a ruling that dismissed their challenge to a policy that allows biological males to compete in female sports.

Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, Alanna Smith, and Ashley Nicoletti will continue to challenge the Connecticut policy, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the law firm announced Monday.

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Commentary: High School Runner Who Lost to Transgender Athletes Will Compete in College

Michigan Star Staff

By now, millions know the story of Selina Soule, the high school track star from Connecticut who missed qualifying for the New England track and field regionals by two spots in her top event. Those two spots were taken by biological boys who identify as girls.

Soule, who is wise beyond her years, was well aware that she could face consequences for speaking out about being forced to compete against biological males. But she recognized a greater need.

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Idaho Governor Signs ‘Fairness for Women in Sports Act’ Barring Biological Men from Competing in Women’s Sports

Michigan Star Staff

by Mickey Mertz   Idaho Governor Brad Little signed into law the Fairness for Women in Sports Act, which bars biological men from competing in women’s athletics. “The legislature finds that there are ‘inherent differences between men and women,’ and that these differences ‘remain cause for celebration, but not for denigration…

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Parents Ask Court to Stop Schools From Helping Children Make Gender Transitions

Michigan Star Staff

A group of Wisconsin parents is asking a state court to halt a public school district’s policy that they say instructs teachers to assist and encourage children in adopting transgender identities without notifying—and possibly while deceiving—parents.

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This Is the Most Important Religious Liberty Decision Since Masterpiece Cakeshop

Michigan Star Staff

A federal appeals court has revived a legal challenge to the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), ruling for the first time that religious business owners can invoke free speech rights when refusing to service a same-sex wedding.

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