
The last four years of the Biden administration have been marked by relentless attacks on our constitutionally guaranteed rights. But with President Donald Trump’s election on Nov. 5, 2024, Alliance Defending Freedom is hopeful that we will have a new opportunity to partner with this new administration to protect the God-given rights of all Americans.
President Trump vowed on the campaign trail to take steps toward defeating censorship, combatting gender ideology, and protecting parental rights. While we are hopeful that the Trump administration remains committed to these promises, it is important to remember that ADF’s work to advance the God-given right to live and speak the truth is far from complete.
Pursuing victories in five key areas
As President Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States this month, ADF is working to advance free speech, preserve religious freedom, protect parental rights, safeguard life, and defeat gender ideology.
Partnering with the Trump administration, we will seek to reverse harmful Biden-era policies and lay the groundwork for the future protection of everyone’s God-given freedoms.
Free speech
Censorship has been on the rise over the last four years. The Biden administration participated in multiple censorship schemes, including pressuring social media companies to take down posts and accounts that the administration disfavored.
Democratic leaders in state governments also promoted censorship. In one glaring example, the California state legislature passed a pair of laws that used vague language to ban certain political speech. ADF attorneys represent both The Babylon Bee and the video platform Rumble in lawsuits challenging California’s censorship.
In contrast to the Biden administration, President Trump has promised that his administration will be committed to protecting free speech. His agenda includes a plan to issue an executive order banning any federal department or agency from colluding with any organization, business, or person, to censor, limit, categorize, or impede the lawful speech of American citizens. It would ban the exact sort of censorship that the Biden administration previously engaged in.
Religious freedom
Christian ministries have been threatened in recent years by laws prohibiting them from hiring only people who share their beliefs.
The Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) prohibits employers with more than seven employees from considering sexual orientation when making employment decisions. While the law used to exempt religious nonprofits, a 2021 Washington Supreme Court decision stripped that protection. That means ministries like Yakima Union Gospel Mission can be punished if they refuse to hire people who do not share or live out the Mission’s Christian beliefs.
Government officials have also excluded Christian ministries from public benefits simply because of their religious character. That’s what is happening in Montgomery County, Ohio, where a ministry called Gracehaven, which cares for vulnerable girls, is being excluded from the county foster care system and federal funding because it chooses to hire only people who share its Christian beliefs.
ADF attorneys are representing both Yakima Union Gospel Mission and Gracehaven, and we will continue to defend the right of religious ministries to live and speak their beliefs. President Trump has also vowed to create a new Federal Task Force on Fighting Anti-Christian Bias that will investigate all forms of illegal discrimination and harassment against Christians in America.
Parental rights
The Biden administration showed a blatant disregard for parental rights. In 2021, the Justice Department targeted parents who dared to speak up during school board meetings and claimed that advocating for their children was akin to “harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence.”
The last four years also brought an increase in cases of teachers being forced to hide important information from parents. For example, ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of Michigan parents Dan and Jennifer Mead after a school district secretly began treating their daughter as a boy while actively hiding it from them.
When proposing changes to Title IX, the Biden administration cited a California advisory and a Nevada policy allowing schools to hide from parents any information about their children identifying as a different gender from their parents. By contrast, President Trump has said he will adopt a parental bill of rights that includes complete curriculum transparency. He has also promised to cut federal funding for any school or program pushing gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on children.
Sanctity of life
Since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Biden administration has been trying to push abortion nationwide. During this same time, pro-life pregnancy centers have experienced an increase in hostility—from threats to vandalism and even firebombings.
In Vermont, a law passed in 2023 censors pro-life pregnancy centers that do not refer for or provide abortions by placing restrictions on their ability to advertise their services and to provide information, counseling, and other services to women. ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of two pregnancy centers and the National Institute for Family and Life Advocates challenging the law.
The Biden administration has also used the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act to unjustly target pro-life individuals, which is why it’s time for the act to be repealed.
President Trump has promised to support mothers and policies that advance prenatal care and to oppose late-term abortion. ADF will continue working to protect life at all stages, from conception to natural death.
Gender ideology
The Biden administration has relentlessly pushed destructive gender ideology, putting children at risk of irreparable harm. One of the most glaring examples is the administration’s radical attempted rewrite of Title IX, which sought to change the definition of “sex” to include “gender identity.”
This change threatens the privacy and safety rights of all Americans, especially women and children. Female athletes shouldn’t be forced to compete against males, and girls in school shouldn’t have their privacy violated by boys entering their private spaces.
ADF filed five separate lawsuits challenging the Biden administration’s attempt to rewrite Title IX. Just this month, a federal district court rejected the Biden administration’s attempted redefinition of ‘sex’ in Title IX, blocking the administration from enforcing its rule change anywhere.
Paralleling ADF’s goals, President Trump has said he will reverse policies pushing “gender transition” efforts on minors, keep men out of women’s sports, and stop taxpayer-funded schools from promoting these efforts.
We’re ready to meet the moment
After four years of an administration hostile toward Americans’ God-given rights, ADF is thankful for a White House we can work alongside to both preserve these rights and advance them.
At the same time, we recognize that there is much work to be done in reversing the harm done during the Biden administration. ADF is ready to meet this moment and preserve the right of every person to live and speak the truth.