12 far-right groups with extreme anti-LGBTQ+ positions that threaten civil rights

In recent years, a network of well-funded conservative organizations has driven a coordinated campaign to roll back LGBTQ+ rights under the guise of “religious freedom,” “parental rights,” and “protecting children.” From powerful think tanks shaping federal policy to activist groups organizing school-board battles, these entities share a common goal: dismantling legal protections and social acceptance for queer and transgender Americans. Their influence now reaches from the U.S. Supreme Court to small-town classrooms, reshaping the nation’s political landscape. The following groups represent the most prominent and persistent forces targeting LGBTQ+ equality across the United States.

Alliance Defending Freedom

Alliance Defending Freedom has become the Christian right’s most powerful legal engine for dismantling LGBTQ+ protections. Backed by deep-pocketed donors, ADF lawyers helped win the Supreme Court’s 303 Creative decision, creating a “free speech” exemption to anti-bias laws and emboldening broader attacks on civil-rights enforcement. The group has also advanced anti-trans legislation and defended bans on gender-affirming care. Civil-rights watchdogs, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, have classified ADF as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group for spreading disinformation about queer and transgender people. ADF insists it merely defends “religious freedom,” but its litigation attempts to limit equality laws nationwide.

Heritage Foundation / Project 2025

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 outlined a comprehensive plan for a future Republican administration under President Donald Trump — one that would systematically strip LGBTQ+ people from federal protections. The 900-page “Mandate for Leadership” blueprint targets Title IX, federal employee policies, and agency diversity programs, calling to erase “sexual orientation and gender identity” from civil-rights law. Heritage and its allies framed this rollback as restoring “moral order,” but human-rights advocates call it an existential threat to queer and trans Americans. With dozens of conservative organizations participating, Project 2025 functions as both a policy roadmap and a mobilization tool for a post-equality federal government. When Trump returned to office in January, he immediately began implementing the draconian plan, despite having previously denied any knowledge of it.

Family Research Council

Founded in the 1980s amid the religious right’s rise, the Family Research Council helped define modern anti-LGBTQ+ politics. Today, it wields outsized influence in Republican policymaking, pushing against the Equality Act, marriage equality, and transgender rights under the banner of “biblical values.” The organization regularly promotes discredited claims linking homosexuality and child abuse, a major reason the SPLC labels it an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.

Liberty Counsel

Liberty Counsel has built its brand by litigating to enshrine “religious freedom” at the expense of LGBTQ+ people. The group sued to overturn bans on so-called “conversion therapy,” helped defend antigay county clerks who refused marriage licenses, and now challenges school policies that affirm transgender students. It was instrumental in convincing courts to strike down Tampa’s conversion therapy ordinance and continues to test constitutional limits on queer and trans rights. Civil rights groups describe Liberty Counsel’s work as weaponizing religion to deny equality; its founder, Mat Staver, calls it a crusade against “sexual anarchy.” The organization remains a persistent legal force across conservative jurisdictions.

Turning Point USA

Turning Point USA — founded by the late Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September — emerged from campus conservatism but evolved into a major cultural war machine. Its events and social-media campaigns vilify drag performers, mock transgender athletes, and brand LGBTQ+ inclusion as “indoctrination.” Through college chapters and Turning Point Faith, the group mobilizes young conservatives with aggressive online messaging that blurs the line between politics and extremism. Critics say TPUSA’s rhetoric fuels harassment of queer students and educators. Kirk’s network has also collaborated with anti-LGBTQ+ influencers and lawmakers, exporting its model of populist outrage into local school boards and state legislatures nationwide.

Moms for Liberty

Born out of pandemic-era school-board protests, Moms for Liberty quickly became a national political force opposing LGBTQ+ visibility in classrooms. The group’s members push to ban books featuring queer characters, censor discussions of gender identity, and strip protections for trans students. The Southern Poverty Law Center now classifies it as an extremist organization. Yet it retains access to Republican candidates and legislators who echo its “parents’ rights” framing. Moms for Liberty leaders insist they defend children from “indoctrination,” but watchdogs note their actions have intensified harassment of teachers and LGBTQ+ youth, reshaping public education around fear and exclusion.

American Principles Project

The American Principles Project calls itself “the premier organization defending the American family,” but its campaigns center on limiting trans rights. APP bankrolls ads and lobbying to ban transgender participation in sports, restrict gender-affirming care, and insert anti-trans language into state platforms. Its digital campaigns use emotional appeals about “protecting children,” echoing rhetoric once used against marriage equality. Founded by Princeton scholar Robert George, APP aligns with Heritage and ADF in shaping the conservative policy ecosystem. Its success in mainstreaming “save women’s sports” messaging has made anti-trans legislation a standard plank of GOP electoral strategy.

Family Policy Alliance

The Family Policy Alliance acts as a national hub for dozens of state-level “family policy councils” advancing anti-LGBTQ+ laws. It authored the “Help Not Harm” model legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors — a bill adopted or proposed in over 20 states. FPA’s advocacy merges political strategy with religious messaging, urging churches to “protect children from gender ideology.” Behind its soft branding lies a coordinated network drafting policies to erase legal recognition of transgender people and limit reproductive autonomy. FPA leaders describe their mission as “biblically rooted governance,” framing civil-rights protections as government overreach into Christian family life.

American College of Pediatricians

The American College of Pediatricians presents itself as a medical authority but represents only a small ideological splinter from mainstream pediatrics. Formed after the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed adoption by same-sex parents, ACPeds rejects gender-affirming care, promotes discredited “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” theories, and collaborates with lawmakers to justify anti-trans legislation. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists it as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group. Public-health experts warn that the group’s political activism undermines trust in medical institutions by dressing religious ideology in scientific language to oppose LGBTQ+ equality and evidence-based health care for trans youth.

Center for Renewing America

Founded by Russell Vought, now the Trump administration’s budget director, the Center for Renewing America serves as a think tank for “anti-woke” governance. Its reports argue for purging “gender ideology” from federal agencies, rescinding LGBTQ+ protections in education and health care, and rolling back civil-rights enforcement. CRA’s budget proposals mirror Project 2025’s blueprint and envision a federal workforce bound by conservative religious norms. The organization plays a key role in the policy scaffolding that supports the second Trump term, positioning LGBTQ+ equality as incompatible with “constitutional order” and cultivating a new bureaucracy of Christian nationalism.

Faith & Freedom Coalition

Led by longtime GOP strategist Ralph Reed, the Faith & Freedom Coalition galvanizes evangelical voters around anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion issues. Through voter-registration drives and political conferences, it wields influence comparable to that of the Christian Coalition in the 1990s. Reed frequently frames LGBTQ+ civil-rights expansions, including the Equality Act, as threats to “religious liberty.” The coalition’s get-out-the-vote efforts helped elect lawmakers who advance trans sports bans and “don’t say gay” laws. By merging political strategy with pulpit power, it remains a crucial bridge between the Republican establishment and the Christian right’s most fervent activists.

Gays Against Groomers

Formed in 2022 by anti-woke lesbian Jamie Michell, Gays Against Groomers brands itself as a coalition of “LGBT people against indoctrination” but has become a fixture in far-right media ecosystems, spreading anti-trans and anti-drag rhetoric. Platforms including PayPal and Venmo cut ties over hate speech violations, and the SPLC designates it an extremist organization. Its campaigns often target Pride events and drag story hours, fueling online harassment and threats. Critics say the group lends false legitimacy to the “groomer” slur — a trope historically used to paint LGBTQ+ people as predators — weaponizing internal identity to amplify one of the far right’s most dangerous narratives.