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Kentucky Appeals Court Issues Convoluted Decision in Pride Festival T-Shirt Case

Article
T-shirt design for the 2012 Lexington Pride Festival
May 16, 2017 Last week, the Kentucky Court of Appeals issued a convoluted decision upholding a lower court decision in a case involving LGBT Pride Festival t-shirts.  The Court’s ruling overturned a local human rights commission’s determination that a business violated a county anti-discrimination ordinance when it refused to take an order from an LGBT rights organization for the t-shirts.  The Lexington, KY-based Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (“GLSO…
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Unconstitutional Backdoor School Prayer Bill Will Have Unintended Consequences

Article
May 12, 2017 The Florida Legislature recently enacted a back door school prayer bill – Senate Bill 436, the so-called "Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act," which the Governor is expected to sign.  It is intended to do an end run around U.S. Supreme Court decisions barring school-sponsored prayer in K-12 public schools. Senate Bill 436 (“SB 436”) is unnecessary, raises serious constitutional issues, and creates a legal quagmire for Florida…
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ADL Statement for House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearings on Religious Liberty

Letter
February 16, 2017 The Honorable Steve King Chair House Judiciary Subcommittee on the on the Constitution and Civil Justice U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 The Honorable Steve Cohen Ranking Member House Judiciary Subcommittee on the on the Constitution and Civil Justice U.S. House of Representatives  Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Chairman King and Ranking Member Cohen: We write to provide the views of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for…
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Distribution of Religious Materials and Proselytizing by Outside Groups and Individuals

Tools and Strategies
For Educators Individuals, including parents, and groups who have no formal relationship to a school (Third Parties) may distribute religious materials, including Bibles, to students outside of school premises. They may also discuss religious matters with students. Third-party materials or publications of a religious viewpoint may be distributed on- campus to the same extent distribution of third-party secular materials is permitted. However, courts have applied different rules to…
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Release Time Programs

Tools and Strategies
For Educators Release time in the public schools refers to programs in which students are released from school early to attend religious classes off school premises. Participating students must have permission from their parents. Nonparticipating students remain in school. Such programs may be constitutional if the religious classes take place off school grounds, if no public school funds are expended, and if school officials or teachers do not promote program attendance through coercion or…
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Religion in the Curriculum

Tools and Strategies
For Educators Public schools may not teach religion, although teaching about religion in a secular context is permitted.1 The Bible may be taught in a school, but only for its historical, cultural or literary value and never in a devotional, celebratory or doctrinal manner, or in such a way that encourages acceptance of the Bible as a religious document.2 SPECIFIC ISSUES & QUESTIONS What distinguishes "teaching religion" from "teaching about religion"? Religion may be presented…
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Westboro Baptist Church

Profile
For Law Enforcement This document is an archived copy of an older ADL report and may not reflect the most current facts or developments related to its subject matter. Introduction The Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a small virulently homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group that regularly stages protests around the country, often several times a week. The group pickets institutions and individuals they think suppor t homosexuality or otherwise subvert what they believe is…
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Interview with Ami Polonsky, Children's Book Author

Podcast
For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers In this podcast, Ami Polonsky talks about why she wrote the book, how parents and teachers can discuss gender and transgender identity with young people and the importance of being an ally.     Ami Polonsky is a children’s book author and teacher. Published in 2014, Gracefully Grayson, a middle grade book, is her debut. Formerly a Chicago Public Schools teacher, Ami spent nine years out of the classroom to…
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What the Women’s March Teaches Us about Intersectionality

Article
January 24, 2017 On Saturday, January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, 500,000 people gathered in Washington, DC for the Women’s March–to express their unity for women’s issues and to speak out against the demonizing and hateful rhetoric that pervaded the past election cycle. An additional 400,000 marched in New York City , 250,000 in Chicago and according to Women’s March organizers, there were 673 “sister marches&rdquo…
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How Can I Plan Inclusive Holiday Celebrations?

Tools and Strategies
For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Most people love a celebration! Adults flutter around busily preparing for the festivities. Children are abuzz with excitement. Special foods are eaten, special heirlooms brought down from the shelf. Traditions are passed down from generation to generation. While children should have an opportunity to learn about and share information about the important holidays and celebrations in their lives, celebrating specific holidays in a school or…
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ADL: The Mikvah Law Misuses State-Funded Facilities to Discriminate Against Non-Orthodox Jews

Press Release
Jerusalem, July 27, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned passage in the Knesset of the “mikvah law,” which bars the ritual immersion of converts by non-Orthodox rabbis in public mikvahs (ritual baths), saying that it is using a state-funded facilities to discriminate.  Immersion in the mikvah is the final step in the process of converting to Judaism.  The law, initiated by MK Moshe Gafni, strives to override the Israeli Supreme Court…
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ADL Strongly Condemns Rejection of Prominent New York Rabbi by Israel’s Supreme Rabbinical Court

Press Release
New York, NY, July 14, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned the decision by Israel’s Supreme Rabbinical court to reject the authority of prominent New York Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein by invalidating his conversion of an American woman to Judaism. ADL called the court’s decision a “slap in the face” to American Jewry, including those who have chosen to join the Jewish people, and said it highlights just how extreme the Israeli…
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ADL to Supreme Court: States Can Provide Broader Church-State Separation

Press Release
New York, NY, July 5, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today joined a friend-of-the court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court defending a Missouri constitutional provision that provides broader separation of church and state than the U.S. Constitution. In the case titled, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Parker, the State denied direct grants to houses of worship under this provision. “The petitioner is seeking an unprecedented ruling from the Court that…
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ADL Hails Supreme Court Ruling on Abortion as a Win for Reproductive Justice and Gender Equality

Press Release
New York, NY, June 27, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today hailed the Supreme Court’s historic 5-3 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which struck down a Texas anti-abortion law. The law, HB2, would have effectively barred many women, particularly women in poverty and women of color, from exercising their constitutional right to an abortion. “The court’s decision appropriately recognizes the real-life impact of HB2 on access to…
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ADL Shocked and Horrified at Mass Shooting Attack on LGBTQ Club in Orlando

Press Release
New York, NY, June 12, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed shock and horror at the unconscionable attack at The Pulse nightclub in Orlando apparently targeting the LGBTQ community, an attack that is now confirmed as the largest mass shooting in American history and one apparently inspired by an Islamic extremist ideology. The suspected shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen of Fort Pierce, Florida, reportedly pledged allegiance to the terrorist group ISIS, and authorities…
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ADL Disappointed by Supreme Court Decision That Further Delays Implementation of Contraception Mandate

Press Release
Urges Quick Resolution by Lower Courts Washington, D.C., May 16, 2015 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s sidestepping on the legality of the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate opt-out provision for religiously affiliated groups. This provision both accommodates religiously affiliated employers and ensures their female employees have access to no-cost prescription contraception insurance coverage…
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ICOM Joins Legal Brief in Support of Islamic Society of Basking Ridge

Press Release
Says Town’s Rejection of Mosque Construction “Troubling” and “Simply Unacceptable” New York, NY, May 11, 2016 … The Interfaith Coalition on Mosques (ICOM) today joined a friend-of-the court brief filed on behalf of a coalition of civil rights and interfaith organizations in support of The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge (ISBR). Filed with a federal court in New Jersey, the brief asserts that the Township of Bernards discriminatorily denied the congregation…
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ADL: Israeli Chief Rabbi Statement Against Non-Jews Living in Israel is Shocking and Unacceptable

Press Release
Jerusalem, March 28, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, for stating that “non-Jews shouldn’t live in the land of Israel.” In a recording of Yosef’s weekly Saturday night lecture, the rabbi can be heard saying, “If our hand were firm, if we had the power to rule, then non-Jews must not live in Israel. But, our hand is not firm.” He added that the only reason non…
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A BDS Win at Brown University

News
by: Robert Trestan | March 24, 2016 The Times of Israel There is plenty of blame to go around when it comes to Janet Mock’s decision to cancel her “Redefining Realness” talk at Brown University this week. Ms. Mock, a transgender best-selling author, canceled her talk following pressure from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to reject the invitation due to Brown Hillel’s involvement. SJP cannot have it both ways — advocating to muzzle a speaker…
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Turning Current Events Instruction Into Social Justice Teaching

Article
by: David Robbins March 11, 2016 Jinnie Spiegler Director of Curriculum, Anti-Defamation League This blog orig­i­nally appeared on Edutopia Marriage equality, refugees seeking safety in Europe, the Confederate flag, police shootings of black and Latino men, the presidential election, Caitlyn Jenner, ISIS, and immigration are just a few of the news stories that inhabited the headlines this year on our phones, laptops, and newspapers. Unlike 20 years ago when…
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