SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Alliance Defense Fund has been actively involved in several recent international legal situations to protect families worldwide and protect America from the effects of poor international legal decisions.
"Families need protection around the world. When families are protected in other countries, American families are also protected from activist courts in America that seek to incorporate foreign precedent into American law," said ADF Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull.
· Canada: ADF-allied attorney Gerald Chipeur is appealing a decision by the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission that found a pastor guilty of "hate speech" for newspaper columns that presented his Christian views on homosexual behavior (www.telladf.org/UserDocs/BoissoinDecision.pdf).
· Germany: ADF-allied attorney Ronald Reichert, with funding from ADF, successfully obtained an extension for the second time on passports for an American family threatened with deportation from Germany because they homeschool their children. Reichert first obtained an extension in December 2007 (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4339).
· Kosovo: ADF Senior Counsel Glen Lavy joined a Western delegation of pro-family leaders to meet with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and other national leaders regarding needed reforms to the country’s new constitution so that it will not open the door to civil rights abuses by leftist political groups and government officials (www.telladf.org/UserDocs/KosovoMemo.pdf).
· Norway: ADF attorneys have submitted a legal memo to the Norwegian Parliament explaining the negative effects on children and society if it approves a proposed law permitting adoptions by same-sex couples (www.telladf.org/UserDocs/CDPmemo.pdf).
· Romania: ADF-allied attorney Peter Costea with the Alliance for Romania’s Families is fighting attempts by the Council of Europe to impose same-sex "marriage" on member states (www.telladf.org/UserDocs/ARFletter.pdf). According to Costea, material from ADF played a significant role in helping the Commission on Equal Opportunity in the Romania Chamber of Deputies to approve modifying the Family Code to prevent attempts to redefine marriage in that country (www.telladf.org/UserDocs/RomaniaLetters.pdf).
"ADF will continue to work strategically around the world to ensure that religious liberty is protected as the essential human right that it is," Bull explained.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
www.telladf.org