Attorneys across the U.S. are being asked to take a stand against anti-LGBT legal groups.
The initiative by the National LGBT Bar Association is called COMMIT to INCLUSION. Essentially, the petition asks attorneys to affirm their commitment to equality by refusing to work with anti-LGBT legal groups.
Two referenced anti-LGBT groups include Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Liberty Counsel.
Here’s a little background on the two groups.
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The ADF was founded by James Dobson and Marlin Maddoux in 1994. ADF represented baker Jack Phillips in the recent Masterpiece Cakeshop case.
ADF also filed an amicus brief against same-sex marriage rights during the Obergefell case.
According to Maddoux, the backbone of ADF is to “give Christians a unique way to fight back against the radical attacks of groups like the ACLU, homosexual activists, and anti-family activists.”
The Liberty Counsel was founded by Mathew D. Staver in 1989. In 2003, the group challenged New York City’s expansion of Harvey Milk High School, a public school for LGBTQ youth.
The Liberty Council also represented Kim Davis, you remember her. She was the clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses based on religious exemption.
“For over 25 years, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Liberty Counsel have waged a legal war against the LGBT community, systematically opposing equality for LGBT people in the areas of family formation (including marriage) and reproductive freedom, rights and protections for youth in schools, and access to goods and services,” the National Bar Association’s fact sheet states.
As of this morning, 43 signatures have been collected in support of the campaign.
The National LGBT Bar Association was founded by a small group of family law practitioners at the height of the HIV and AIDS crisis over 30 years ago.
In 1992, the National LGBT Bar Association became an affiliate of the American Bar Association.
They are comprised of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals, law students, activists, and affiliated lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender legal organizations.
