New Impact Report

Fox v. City of Austin

Dr. Andrew Fox created the chaplaincy program at the Austin Fire Department and served as the lead chaplain in a volunteer capacity for eight years, earning the trust and respect of the firefighters. But after Dr. Fox shared his religious views on his personal blog, city officials demanded he recant and apologize for the harm his blog post allegedly caused. He explained that his intent was to foster discussion, not cause offense, and apologized if anyone was offended. But his apology wasn’t good enough for city officials who demanded total compliance with their political ideology, and they forced Dr. Fox to turn in his uniform. Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit against the city on his behalf.

DeJong v. Pembrook

While a graduate student in Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Art Therapy program, Maggie DeJong, like many other students, shared her views on a variety of topics on social media, in class, and with other students. But because Maggie’s views often differed from those of other students in the program—views informed by her Christian faith and political stance—several of her fellow students reported her speech to university officials. The officials then issued no-contact orders against DeJong, prohibiting her from having “any contact” or even “indirect communication” with three fellow graduate students who complained that her expression of religious and political viewpoints constituted “harassment” and “discrimination.” Alliance Defending Freedom is suing the university for violating her free speech rights because of her viewpoints.

Cross v. Loudoun County School Board

Loudoun County Public Schools officials suspended elementary teacher Tanner Cross for speaking out against a proposed school policy … during the public comment period of a school board meeting. The policy forces teachers to violate their beliefs by requiring them to address students with their chosen pronouns, not ones consistent with their biological sex. With your support, ADF filed a lawsuit against the school district. Tanner was eventually permanently restored to his role. And two more teachers have joined the lawsuit to challenge the radical policy (which has since been adopted).

L.B. v. Simpson County School District

Third-grader Lydia Booth was forced to remove her “Jesus Loves Me” mask by administrators at her school. Other students had been allowed to wear masks with sports team logos and political messages like “Black Lives Matter.” Lydia was singled out. Her mask was deemed “offensive.” Because of the generosity from people like you, ADF is able to represent Lydia and challenge the school’s action with a federal lawsuit. Public schools cannot discriminate against students like Lydia for their religious beliefs. Students don’t lose their constitutional rights when they step into school.

Josephson v. Bendapudi

University of Louisville officials demoted, harassed, and fired a distinguished professor—one who had successfully led its child psychiatry program for almost fifteen years—after he expressed his views on treatment approaches for youth experiencing gender dysphoria. Dr. Allan M. Josephson’s remarks in a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. angered a few of his colleagues, who then learned he had served as an expert witness addressing similar issues. They demanded that the university take disciplinary action, and university officials responded by demoting him weeks later to the role of a junior faculty member. The university later announced that it would not renew his contract, thus firing him—a highly unusual decision, especially for a professor of his seniority. Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Dr. Josephson in a federal lawsuit.