On October 9, the Heritage Foundation co-hosted an anti-LGBTQ summit that featured several notable anti-LGBTQ groups and figures who demeaned queer people and criticized LGBTQ-inclusive policies. Heritage is a conservative think tank that has worked to oppose LGBTQ equality for decades and promoted the harmful and discredited practice of conversion therapy, among other extreme positions

The half-day event, titled “Summit on Protecting Children from Sexualization” and co-hosted by anti-LGBTQ group the Family Policy Alliance (FPA), featured panels on culture, education, and health care. The summit included representatives from extreme anti-LGBTQ groups FPA, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), and American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds). It also featured trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) group Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) and its allied organization Hands Across the Aisle Coalition. (TERFs claim to be feminists, but they hold vehemently anti-trans views and are widely rejected by intersectional feminists and LGBTQ advocates. In fact, TERFs have joined with right-wing, anti-LGBTQ organizations around the country in lawsuits against trans rights.)

The October 9 summit was a continuation of Heritage’s ever-increasing anti-LGBTQ advocacy, which has included hosting at least five other anti-trans panels so far this year. Some participants in the summit have also participated in Heritage’s earlier 2019 panels, including National Review’s Madeleine Kearns, “ex-trans” activist Walt Heyer, Heritage’s Ryan Anderson, and WoLF board member Natasha Chart. 

During the summit, Heritage unveiled a new resource guide for parents detailing how they can reject their transgender children and advance policies to attack the trans community. This can be damaging or even deadly to LGBTQ youth; family rejection increases the risk of substance abuse and suicidal ideation. In fact, “LGBTQ youth whose families affirm their gender identity and sexual orientation are almost 50 percent less likely to make a suicide attempt compared to those whose families are unsupportive.” Major medical associations agree that families should not try to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of their children. The guide was created in conjunction with FPA, WoLF, and two groups of anti-trans parents who reject their children’s gender identities: Parents of ROGD Kids and the Kelsey Coalition. Heritage helped launch the Kelsey Coalition and boost its profile with national media outlets.

Media outlets often prop up Heritage as a mainstream organization that leans conservative, but they ignore its anti-LGBTQ extremism and associations with similar groups. In turn, Heritage frequently boasts of its media appearances to establish the group’s credibility. 

Though Heritage staff members make many TV appearances to discuss issues like foreign affairs, trade, and the economy, they've found Fox News to be a particularly friendly platform for the group to discuss LGBTQ issues. A Media Matters analysis found that Heritage staff appeared at least 87 times on weekday cable TV in 2019; 61 of those appearances were on Fox. Just this year, Fox has hosted Heritage President Kay Coles James and Emilie Kao, director of Heritage’s Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society. The network has also hosted several guests who have appeared as panelists at anti-trans Heritage events. 

Similarly, Fox News regularly hosts Alliance Defending Freedom, which also participated in the October 9 summit, and its clients. A Media Matters analysis found that so far in 2019, ADF figures have been on weekday Fox programming at least nine times, in addition to two weekend appearances.

Participants in Heritage’s summit made anti-LGBTQ comments

During the summit, several participants made disparaging or false comments about LGBTQ people. Here are some of the worst things that participants said during the course of the day:

Madeleine Kearns, National Review Institute 

Kearns is a fellow at the nonprofit National Review Institute and regularly writes for the conservative anti-LGBTQ outlet National Review. She participated in one of Heritage’s anti-trans panels earlier this year, during which she repeatedly misgendered and demeaned trans folks. At the October 9 summit, Kearns:

• denied the existence of trans people, saying, “of course a person cannot literally change from one sex to another”;

• said, “trans women are men, and there’s nothing wrong with being a man"; 

• called LGBTQ advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign “a force for tremendous harm in this country"; 

• suggested that drag sexualizes children, asking why we would “invite salacious interest in children by dressing them up in drag”; and

• said young drag performer Desmond is Amazing should be called “Desmond Needs Saving.”

Georgia Kijesky, Personhood Maryland

Georgia Kijesky is the founder of the Maryland chapter of the Personhood Alliance, a national anti-abortion confederation of state groups seeking to “uphold the Biblical worldview in 21st-century politics and culture by honoring God’s design for life, marriage, family, sexuality, and gender.” Kijesky has opposed LGBTQ-inclusive programming and policies at her local library in Maryland, including Drag Queen Story Hour and sex-ed programs. At the October 9 summit, Kijesky: 

• commented on Drag Queen Story Hour, claiming its goal “is to push this homosexual, sexually deviant gender ideology”;

• said that drag is “like blackface,” which mirrors language from Washington state anti-LGBTQ group 500 Mom Strong;

• said that Drag Queen Story Hour is “tailored precisely to entice children to question the reality of human sexuality";

• claimed that Drag Queen Story Hour exists to “normalize abnormal behavior as early as possible"; and

• said that Drag Queen Story Hour is “bad for children” because it “exposes them to adult themes,” “frustrates human nature,” and is “harmful to society.”

Rebecca Friedrichs, For Kids and Country

Rebecca Friedrichs is a public school teacher and author who sued the California state teachers’ union to allow workers to refuse to pay union dues, which would have weakened unions. The case went to the Supreme Court but ended in a split decision. At the October 9 summit, Friedrichs:

• called trans-inclusive education “child abuse” and “also the abuse of parents” and “religious abuse"; 

• criticized teachers’ motivations for supporting Gay-Straight Alliances, saying, “If you agreed to start a Gay-Straight Alliance on your campus, you can get big money. You can also get big money to push LGBT activism in the classroom. … You can also attend wild parties at all of these union events full of all kinds of very expensive alcohol and food off the backs of middle class teachers";

• said teachers are told to tell four-year-old children that their “parents didn’t know your gender when you were born, so they assigned you a gender. There’s really a huge spectrum -- ever-growing spectrum of genders, you will figure out your gender some day”;

• misgendered a trans student and lamented policies calling on teachers to use trans students' appropriate pronouns;

• claimed that she doesn’t “know one teacher or parent who agrees with” trans-inclusive bathrooms or locker rooms and complained that teachers unions are using her money to support them; 

• called on policymakers to help “end government unions"; and

• said government unions “do not belong in our government, or our schools, or anywhere that’s taxpayer funded” because “they’re destroying academic rigor, excellence, science, and they are purposely undermining Judeo-Christian virtues, American virtues, which are essential for a free republic."

Stephanie Curry, Family Policy Alliance

Stephanie Curry is an attorney with the Family Policy Alliance, where her work has included defending conversion therapy and opposing LGBTQ-inclusive sex education. At the October 9 summit, Curry:

• criticized nondiscrimination bills that include LGBTQ protections, claiming that LGBTQ people are using them “as a sword to reach into the homes, private businesses, churches, [and] religious organizations of all private citizens";

• erroneously claimed that the Equality Act “would possibly mandate a comprehensive sex ed is taught in schools. It would require that boys are in girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms. It would require that LGBTQ curriculum is taught in all subjects, not just comprehensive sex ed, because you’re discriminating if you’re not addressing it. It would require insurance coverage of gender transition services It would require religious organizations and churches to hire people who are not living out their faith-based values and principles. So, it’s very wide-reaching";

• said the Equality Act would result in religious and conservative groups losing “quite a bit of ground” and that it “would be very hard to reverse the clock"; 

• lamented Planned Parenthood’s involvement in sex ed curriculums;

• claimed that comprehensive sex ed and consent-based education “doesn’t protect [children] from pedophiles"; and

• said that comprehensive sex ed is “grooming basically, and it’s in our classrooms” and “exposing our children to pornography.”

Derrick Max, Cornerstone School

Derrick Max is the executive director and principal of a Christian school in Washington, D.C. At the October 9 summit, Max:

• said that schools are “not a place for social experiments”;

• claimed that sex education is “dangerous” and “drives the education literally to the lowest common denominator";

•  said that LGBTQ-inclusive education “only creates greater confusion";

• claimed that if schools implement education “that encourages them to explore, encourages them to question, you will do permanent damage to those students"; and

• declared, “The Bible is very specific about the father of confusion and chaos, and I don’t think this is by accident. I don’t think it’s an accident that our libraries are being taken over. I don’t think it’s an accident that our schools are being taken over. I think it is by design to get students to deny their creation and how they are created so that they will deny their creator. And if we don’t stand up and be willing to say, ‘No, I actually believe you are a man, and I actually believe you are a woman. And I believe your marriage should be between a man and a woman for a lifetime,’ we will lose this debate, and we will lose our kids.”

Emily Zinos, Hands Across the Aisle Coalition

Emily Zinos is a member of Hands Across the Aisle Coalition, a group of anti-trans advocates that includes both TERFs and conservative Christians. Earlier this year, Fox News’ Laura Ingraham hosted a member of the group who said that “trans women are men.” Zinos previously wrote a statement that was presented at a February 2017 anti-trans Heritage panel. At the October 9 summit, Zinos:

• said that when her school implemented inclusive policies, “girls’ restrooms had to be transformed from places meant to serve bodily needs into places that were meant to substantiate a chosen identity, and frightened kindergarteners started asking their parents if they too would suddenly become the opposite sex. The real bully at our school went by the name of ‘gender,’ and every single student was its victim";

• fearmongered about trans-affirming care, claiming that there are “13-year-old girls who are undergoing double mastectomies” and that “100% of the kids prescribed puberty blockers are later chemically sterilized"; and

• said, “Schools with gender inclusion policies are naively feeding the most vulnerable kids into a school-to-gender clinic pipeline, and it’s trans-identified kids who will get hurt.” 

Vernadette Broyles, Alliance Defending Freedom and Child & Parental Rights Campaign

Vernadette Broyles is an ADF allied attorney involved in a lawsuit to repeal a trans-inclusive school policy in Decatur, Georgia. She also recently launched the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, which provides pro bono legal representation to parents who want to reject their children's gender identity. At the October 9 summit, Broyles:

• compared LGBTQ advocates to insects, claiming LGBTQ-inclusive school policies are “passed in the dark” and “there’s a reason why cockroaches like the dark"; 

• called using people’s appropriate pronouns “forced pronoun usage”; and

• claimed policies encouraging the use of proper pronouns are a violation of constitutional rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. 

Walt Heyer, “ex-trans” activist

Walt Heyer formerly identified as trans and is a darling of anti-LGBTQ groups and right-wing media. He previously participated in a March 28 anti-trans panel at Heritage during which he railed against affirming trans identities, calling it “child abuse,” “destructive,” and “damaging.” He also encouraged the use of conversion therapy for transgender people. At the October 9 summit, Heyer:

• repeated his claim affirming trans kids is child abuse, saying, “Affirming children into a cross-gender identity is child abuse. Let’s be honest. It’s not physical abuse, but it’s psychological abuse. It’s emotional abuse, and it’s sexual abuse. We cannot kid ourselves any longer, and our children are being destroyed"; and

• claimed gender-affirming surgery represents “physical abuse.”

Joseph Zanga, American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds)

Joseph Zanga is the co-founder and past president of the American College of Pediatricians, which is a small and deceptively named anti-LGBTQ group that is sometimes mistaken for legitimate medical group the American Association of Pediatrics. At the October 9 summit, Zanga:

• denied trans existence, saying, “You are male or female, and nothing that you do can change that basic scientific fact. Change the appearance, we can dress, we can look, we can have surgery, but we cannot change who we are"; 

• said, “It’s time to stop. It’s time to speak up and tell everyone what they should know: that boys will always be boys, and girls will always be girls. And we have to help them understand why and how to do that";

• promoted conversion therapy for trans kids and advocated against banning the dangerous practice, criticizing such protections as government “malpractice” and “practicing medicine without a license";

• called trans-affirming care “inappropriate counseling"; and

• repeated Heyer’s claim that trans-affirming medical care is child abuse, saying, “This is crazy. This is unscientific. This is malpractice as well as child abuse. We are committing uncontrolled experiments on our children, and that’s dangerous.”

Matt Sharp, Alliance Defending Freedom

Matt Sharp is senior counsel at ADF, where he has authored an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of a policy that required transgender students to use bathrooms that do not correspond with their gender identity in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. He has worked to undermine inclusive school policies around the country. At the October 9 summit, Sharp:

• advocated against conversion therapy protections, calling them “counseling censorship laws"; and

• invoked the unvalidated hypothesis of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” that claims that trans youth are coming out due to “social contagion.”