A Change Of Plans

The Hidden Toll Of Mail-Order Abortion Drugs

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Colorado Is Pushing Our Bookstore To Promote Gender Ideology

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An Obscure Baker Helped Lead Me To Christ

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A Change Of Plans

How A Mother And Son Found New Life – And Confronted High-Tech Religious Discrimination

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Minutes With Kristen Yes, This Is Really Happening

By Kristen Waggoner CEO, President & Chief Counsel

My son can’t take an Advil at school or go on a field trip without my consent. So, why do schools think they have the right to “socially transition” a child without asking Mom and Dad?

I presented this question in a recent debate focused on parental rights in public schools. On the other side of the debate was a law professor from the University of Chicago. The question before us: “Do parents have a constitutional right to know and consent to public school facilitation of their children’s gender-identity transition?”

I began by telling the story of Massachusetts parents Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, who hired a therapist to help their 11-year-old daughter, Jane (not her real name), after learning that she was experiencing depression and questioning her sex. They asked her school’s teachers, counselors, and principal not to have any private conversations with their daughter about her mental health struggles so they could address them as a family and with the parents’ chosen counselor.

because they are vital to a child’s well-being, their healthy development, and the stability of families,” I argued in the debate. “The law defers to fit parents’ judgment because parents are best positioned to know their child’s needs and to provide the stable, nurturing environment that a child requires to flourish.”

The debate was respectful. But the social media response to a video clip of the debate was filled with backlash.

We will work tirelessly to make sure that secret social transitions are as nonexistent as my critics would have others believe. ‘‘ Kristen Waggoner

Comments flooded my X account, denying the reality of secret social transitions in schools. “That has NEVER even remotely happened,” one person insisted. “Schools do nothing of the kind,” another agreed.

But it is happening. Last fall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito estimated that nearly 6,000 public schools have secret “social transition” policies, and dozens of cases across the country are challenging them for violating parents’ rights.

Ignoring the request, school officials secretly began meeting with Jane to socially transition her from female to “genderqueer.” They used a masculine name and false pronouns and told her she could use the boys’ restrooms. The school hid all of this from Stephen and Marissa. When they found out, they sued the school for violating their parental rights.

“Parental rights are a fundamental liberty interest

Alliance Defending Freedom has been combating these dangerous policies for years, defending parents in nine states. And we will work tirelessly to make sure that secret social transitions are as nonexistent as my critics would have others believe.

ADF and the Child & Parental Rights Campaign have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Stephen and Marissa’s case. Parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, and healthcare of their children. And no school has the power to supersede that.

News & Quick Takes Case Updates From Around

The World

Washington

A federal appeals court has ruled that a Christian ministry in Yakima, Washington, has the right to hire employees who share its religious beliefs.

Yakima Union Gospel Mission (YUGM) operates a homeless shelter, addictionrecovery programs, outreach efforts, meal services, and medical and dental clinics.

North Carolina

A Charlotte high school student faced censorship and harassment after she painted a tribute to slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk on her school’s “spirit rock.”

Gabby Stout, a junior at Ardrey Kell High School, sought permission to paint a patriotic message honoring Kirk, which the school granted. Hours after she and two friends painted the rock, CharlotteMecklenburg Board of Education officials ordered the tribute to be painted over.

The next day, school officials sent a school-wide email accusing Gabby of vandalism and launched a criminal investigation. School officials then called

While it serves community members regardless of background or belief, the Mission’s work is rooted in its Christian faith and its goal of sharing the gospel.

To further its religious purpose, YUGM employs only believers who agree with and live out its Christian beliefs and practices. However, a Washington state law prohibits the Mission from employing only those who share its religious beliefs about marriage and sexuality, threatening it with significant penalties for maintaining faithbased employment standards.

After the Mission challenged the law with representation from ADF, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit unanimously ruled in its favor.

Chicago Public Schools is illegally injecting itself into a religious nonprofit’s hiring practices, which the Constitution and state laws expressly forbid. ‘‘

Jeremiah Galus ADF Senior Counsel

Illinois

her out of class to write a statement describing her actions and forced her to show them her cell phone data, all without informing her of her rights. A few days later, when school officials concluded that Gabby hadn’t committed vandalism, they quietly closed the investigation with no apology.

ADF is representing Gabby and her family in a lawsuit against the school board for censoring her message and violating her constitutional rights.

The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago is suing the Chicago Board of Education for religious discrimination over the school’s hiring practices. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has excluded Moody from its student teaching program unless it gives up its religious hiring rights as a condition to participate. ADF is representing Moody in the lawsuit.

Moody only hires faculty and staff who share its biblical beliefs and values, including those on marriage and human sexuality.

In January 2024, the Illinois State Board of Education approved Moody’s Elementary Education degree program. But CPS refused to allow Moody to take part in its studentteaching program, citing its policy that participating colleges and universities cannot “discriminate” in their hiring practices based on religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Every year, CPS struggles to fill hundreds of vacant teaching positions. By excluding Moody, Chicago deprives its own schools and students of qualified student teachers.

Sweden

A Christian couple living in Sweden has filed a case at the European Court of Human Rights, claiming violations of their parental rights after child protection services seized their two eldest daughters over three years ago.

The girls were separated from their parents in December 2022 after one of them made a false claim of abuse at school, triggered by her parents’ refusal to give her a phone and allow her to wear makeup. The accusation prompted allegations of “religious extremism,” even though the girl promptly retracted her claims.

Daniel and Bianca Samson, originally from Romania, argue that Swedish authorities have failed to act in the best interests of their children by refusing to reunite the family — even after prosecutors found no evidence of abuse. The state has cited the family’s

Egypt

Egypt has granted paid religious leave to Christian employees for Easter, a move that acknowledges the place of Christianity in Egyptian society.

Previously, Christians in Egypt were often forced to choose between observing Easter and meeting work or school obligations. Sunday is part of Egypt’s five-day work week, and public institutions have operated as usual on Easter Sunday.

regular church attendance — three times a week — as evidence of “religious extremism,” even though the practice is protected under international human rights law.

The children now live in separate foster homes, and their parents are allowed only one supervised visit per month. ADF International is supporting the Samsons’ legal challenge.

This case strikes at the heart of every parent’s most fundamental right — the freedom to care for and protect one’s children. ‘‘

Guillermo A. Morales Sancho ADF International Legal Counsel

Australia

A mother of six is pursuing legal action against the South Australian Department of Education after her 14-year-old daughter was exposed to explicit sexual content at school without parental notice or consent.

Nicki Gaylard’s daughter, Courtney, and other Year 9 girls were removed from regular classes to attend a presentation by an external education provider, without teacher supervision. The session included extremely graphic material that left students distressed and confused.

The decision, however, does not apply to those working outside the private sector, as the Egyptian government does not recognize Easter Sunday as a national public holiday.

A petition supported by ADF International is pending before the Administrative Court, seeking full recognition of Easter Sunday as a national public holiday. The petition calls on the government to treat Easter in line with major Islamic religious holidays, which are observed nationwide as public holidays.

Following the incident, Gaylard withdrew her children from the school, saying she could not risk further exposure to unsupervised and inappropriate sexual content.

“Sadly, Nicki’s case is an example of a larger pattern,” said Robert Clarke, director of advocacy for ADF International, which is supporting Gaylard’s case. “Increasingly, parents are discovering that radical approaches to sex education … are being quietly rolled out. This case is about drawing a firm line: parental rights matter, transparency matters, and safeguarding children is not optional.”

The Hidden Toll Of Mail-Order Abortion Drugs

No sooner had the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade than a scheme was in the works: Find a way to make abortion available in states where ending the lives of unborn babies was now illegal.

Soon after the ruling, the Biden FDA launched a nationwide effort to facilitate abortions in pro-life states, such as Louisiana. Pro-abortion doctors and activists in states like California and New York could now mail mifepristone — the first drug used in an abortion drug regimen — directly to residents in those states.

What followed was a surge of abortions in prolife states, made possible by mail-order abortion

Rosalie Markezich

JoinADF.com/FJ-Rosalie

CASE TIMELINE

The State of Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration

JUNE 2022

The U.S Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturns Roe v. Wade Louisiana’s pro-life laws immediately go into effect following that decision.

JANUARY 2023

The Biden FDA permanently removes the in-person dispensing requirement from the Mifepristone Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, making abortion drugs available by mail.

drugs — some of which were obtained and used without the pregnant woman’s consent. A young woman in Louisiana was one such victim.

Rosalie’s Story

Rosalie Markezich hadn’t planned the pregnancy. But, as she stared at the result of a pregnancy test, the joy of becoming a mom was already starting to take hold.

“I kind of knew that it was going to be positive,” she says. “And deep down, I also kind of wanted it to be positive. So, when I took it and I immediately saw the line, the first thing I did was just smile.”

Her then-boyfriend didn’t share her enthusiasm, claiming the baby would ruin his life. Ignoring Rosalie’s wishes to keep the baby, he ordered FDA-approved abortion drugs online from a California doctor using Rosalie’s information. The doctor sent them directly to her home in Louisiana.

She was in a car with her boyfriend, alone, when their conflicting plans for the unborn child came to a head. He demanded she take the drugs, but Rosalie stood her ground, determined not to abort her baby.

“Don’t make me do this,” she pleaded. She told him about her plan to raise the baby in Michigan, with her mother’s help. Her boyfriend became livid.

The blood started coming, and at that moment I knew my chances were not in my favor. And so, I just laid there bleeding, crying. ‘‘

Rosalie Markezich

OCTOBER 2023

Rosalie Markezich is coerced into taking abortion drugs in pro-life Louisiana after her thenboyfriend ordered them illegally from a prescriber in California.

“He abruptly pulled the car into a hospital parking lot and started shouting at me,” she says. “My boyfriend had anger issues and a criminal record, so I was terrified.”

Rosalie had suffered domestic abuse in the past and recognized the danger signs. Their impromptu drive, she knew, made her especially vulnerable.

“My roommates did not know that I was with him,” she says. “Should anything happen to me, no one would know where I was.”

The situation triggered a fight-or-flight response. “To pacify him, I told him I would take the drugs,” she says. She swallowed them in front of him, secretly planning to throw them up as soon as she got away from him. By the time she made it to a private space, it was too late.

“The blood started coming, and at that moment I knew my chances were not in my favor,” she says. “And so, I just laid there bleeding, crying.”

The heavy bleeding lasted for a week. Now, over two years later, her psychological and emotional trauma persist. She still mourns the loss of her baby.

The FDA Should Not Rubber-Stamp Harm

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first approved the abortion drug mifepristone, the agency established safeguards — including in-person doctor visits — to help minimize the drug’s inherent risks.

OCTOBER 2025

Alongside ADF attorneys, the State of Louisiana and Rosalie sue the FDA in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division for its 2023 actions.

DECEMBER 2025

Alongside ADF attorneys, the State of Louisiana and Rosalie ask the court for temporary relief from the Biden FDA’s mail-order scheme while the case continues.

A pro-life advocate highlights the need to protect women as well as unborn children at the 2025 March for Life in Washington, D.C.

But in 2023, after removing nearly every other safeguard the FDA had originally required for the drug, the Biden administration directed the FDA to permanently remove the in-person dispensing requirement.

That decision opened the door for doctors in proabortion states to blanket pro-life states like Louisiana with mail-order abortion drugs, circumventing state laws and putting women and unborn babies at risk.

Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the State of Louisiana and Rosalie in a federal lawsuit challenging the FDA’s actions.

“Out-of-state abortion drug peddlers are violating the criminal laws of Louisiana and other states across the country that choose life,” says Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill. “They aren’t providing health care; they’re drug dealers.”

The lawsuit, she says, seeks to hold the FDA accountable for unlawfully removing its original safeguard that ensured women receive an inperson office visit to check for life-threatening conditions and screen for abuse before taking abortion drugs.

New York doctor and demanded that her daughter have an abortion or be kicked out of her home. The girl took the drugs and ended up in the hospital.

In other documented cases across the country, men have forced women to have abortions by ordering abortion drugs and secretly crushing them into food or drinks or disguising them as vitamins or antibiotics.

An in-person doctor visit could have protected these women from this abuse.

The Fight For Life Is Far From Over

The push to make abortion drugs available by mail began with the Dobbs decision, which allowed states to enact and enforce laws that fully protect unborn life.

“President Biden ordered his administration to conceive of every possible way to keep abortion available in states that choose life,” says ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice. “What they came up with was mailorder abortion drugs: a reckless political action that destroys unborn life, puts women’s safety in serious jeopardy, and completely subverts state law.”

The FDA’s reckless actions … opened wide the door for women to suffer reproductive coercion and assault. ‘‘

Liz Murrill, Louisiana Attorney General

Abortions have significantly increased in Louisiana since Dobbs, despite the state’s strong pro-life laws. According to the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning’s 2024 #WeCount report, from April to June 2024, mailorder abortion drugs accounted for an average of 617 abortions per month in Louisiana. In 2025, that number climbed to more than 900 per month.

“The FDA’s reckless actions also opened wide the door for women to suffer reproductive coercion and assault,” Murrill says.

Rosalie isn’t alone in having taken abortion drugs against her will. Also in Louisiana, a pregnant teen wanted to keep her baby and was planning a gender reveal party. But her mother allegedly ordered abortion drugs from a

“That’s over 900 unborn lives taken each month, in a state that has specifically chosen to protect life — all because of the Biden FDA’s unlawful approval of mail-order abortion drugs,” Hawley says. “Abortion by mail is not health care; it’s the opposite.”

Rosalie can’t help thinking about how different her life would be if the FDA hadn’t made high-risk abortion drugs available by mail.

“If mail-order abortion wasn’t a thing,” she says, “I’m 100% sure I would have my child.”

Alliance Profile Dean Broyles

By Dustin Hobbs

Ihave ministry in my blood and bones,” says ADF

Allied Attorney Dean Broyles.

After graduating from Westmont College, Broyles followed in his father’s footsteps — an ordained minister who served on Young Life staff and founded Military Community Youth Ministries — by entering full-time youth ministry.

Then, a casual conversation led to a sudden change in direction.

He was reading aloud a letter he had written outlining his position on an issue when his father said, “Those are really good arguments” — to which Broyles joked, “Well, maybe I should be a lawyer.”

His father didn’t laugh. Instead, he said, “I think you’d make a fine lawyer.”

Within 24 hours, Broyles was convinced that God was calling him to leave his home in Southern California to begin law school at Regent University in Virginia. That sense of calling was reinforced by his wife, Shona, who was fully “on board,” working as a part-time substitute teacher and a nighttime waitress to put him through law school.

Three years later, in 1995, he graduated with a Juris Doctor degree and returned to California to open a law office. He went on to form the National Center for Law and Policy, where he continues to serve as president.

From the beginning, Broyles believed his legal career had a clear purpose. “The call was specific, not just to be an attorney,” he says, “but to defend and advocate for religious freedom. There had to be a higher purpose behind my work.”

In 1998, as a recent law school graduate, he participated in some of ADF’s earliest legal training programs. Since then, he has donated hundreds of pro bono hours to ADF clients as a network attorney, earning a place in the network’s elite Honor Corps after reaching 450 hours.

As a California-based Christian attorney, Broyles was positioned to play a role in protecting the rights of churches to gather during the COVID-19 pandemic. He filed one of the earliest cases that successfully challenged the state’s restrictions on in-person worship. He also played a key role in standing up to vaccine mandates that ignored requests for religious accommodation. As the issues expanded nationally, he helped train other ADF allied attorneys on how to litigate these novel legal issues.

The call was specific, not just to be an attorney, but to defend and advocate for religious freedom. ‘‘ Dean Broyles

More recently, Broyles has taken on the issue of parental rights in education. In 2024, he sued California’s Encinitas Union School District on behalf of parents after elementary students were forced to watch a read-aloud video of My Shadow is Pink , a book that urges children to question their gender identity.

That challenge culminated last year in a preliminary injunction requiring the district to provide parents with advance notice and opt-out options for programs that promote gender ideology.

As the father of four adopted children and the grandfather of two, Broyles says a single question motivates him every day: What kind of world am I leaving to my children and grandchildren?

Driven not only to win the next case but to change the culture and glorify God, Dean sees his profession as more than a job. He knows that while God may have upended his initial plans for his life, he’s still in fulltime ministry work after nearly 30 years.

Cover Story

A Change Of Plans

How A Mother And Son Found New Life – And Confronted High-Tech Religious Discrimination

By Chris Potts

Neither Christopher Yuan nor his mother, Angela, had a lot of time for lunch back then. He was a boy in elementary school; she was managing her husband’s prospering Chicago dental office. Come noon, Angela would scurry to the school, pick up Christopher and his older brother, speed home, and whip up something quick they could gobble before zooming back to class.

One day, amid the rush, she burned the grilled cheese sandwiches. A perfectionist, she was gritting her teeth over the charcoaled cheddar, scolding herself for the waste. It was more, she remembers, than tender-hearted little Christopher could bear.

“Mom,” he said, “I like it burnt.” And promptly crunched down the whole blackened thing.

“He was sensitive,” Angela says, exchanging a fond smile, across the years, with her now middleaged son. “Very well-behaved. A good kid.”

That would change, sooner and more dramatically than either of them could have imagined. In a few short years, their close-knit Chinese family would be a shambles, their values turned upside down … but their future filled with twists and miracles that would eventually impact countless other parents and children all over the world.

And, what’s more — one day the boy who liked burnt sandwiches would serve two major corporations each a slice of perfectly baked humble pie.

If God could have a plan for an entire nation in exile and rebellion … maybe He could have a plan for me. ‘‘

Christopher Yuan

Reading always came hard for Angela. She learned to loathe it early and brought home grades that reflected her antipathy. She was still a young girl when her father, working for a shipping company, managed to smuggle his family out of Communist China to a new life in Taiwan — where Angela found English reading as tiresome as the Chinese kind.

As she grew older, and began drawing the attention of boys, she established as her primary requirement for dating their willingness to write up book reports on her behalf. One boy, Leon — whose family had also fled the mainland — distinguished himself by an exceptional willingness to take on her literary responsibilities.

As a chemistry student, he really wasn’t required to immerse himself in novels, but he obviously considered Angela worth the extra effort.

She reciprocated his affections enough that, when he traveled to the United States for graduate school, she found a way to follow, even if the only academic option afforded her was … library science. A year later, they were newlyweds, living modestly while Angela worked to pay Leon’s way through two doctorates and the launch of his fledgling dental practice. In time, they prospered.

With the coming of two boys, Angela’s great dream was realized: all she’d wanted, growing up with two busy, distant parents, was to build the perfect Chinese family — successful, socially well-set, hard-working — and to be the best wife and mother she could be. To have a home where she could belong.

At a station near her San Diego home, Angela recalls the day she boarded a train in Chicago to tell her son a final goodbye.

When it came to reading the future, though, Angela’s skills proved no better with tea leaves than with books. While Leon’s dental practice grew, their marriage gradually crumbled. Her older son drifted away. And, one Mother’s Day, Christopher came home from dental school to announce, “I am gay.”

“I don’t even know how to describe that feeling,” she remembers. “Shock. Sadness. Shame. And betrayed, because he had always been so close to me. I just collapsed.”

“She felt like I’d rejected her,” Christopher says. “Well, guess what I felt? Rejection. It was like ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back.’ It was a big straw.” The once-devoted son left home with no real intention of coming back, now pouring his energies less and less into his studies and more and more into wild living and the homosexual subculture.

“I knew nothing about homosexuality,” Angela says — and there seemed no one to ask. In a shame-based Chinese culture, Angela felt she could not speak of it to her friends. Leon barely talked with her anymore. So, though she wasn’t a Christian, she sought out a chaplain.

“I didn’t like Christians,” she says. “They seemed weird. Phony. I’d had bad experiences.” Swallowing her distaste, she told her story to the priest. He listened, then handed her a pamphlet.

“Read this,” he said.

The most important thing was not that Christopher become a heterosexual. It was that he would surrender to God. ‘‘

Angela Yuan

Angela stuffed the pamphlet in her purse, and, with grim resolve, headed for the train station. She bought a one-way ticket from Chicago down to Christopher’s school in Louisville, where she would tell him a final goodbye. After the visit, she’d decided, “I’ll just go and end my life.”

“For just a dollar more, you can buy a return ticket,” the station agent told her. Angela declined.

“I thought, ‘No — my life is not even worth one dollar.’” she says.

On the train, the woman who despised reading and Christians found herself perusing the Bible-based pamphlet. “Somehow,” she says, “that was the first time I was interested in reading.” And, as she did, she heard a voice in her soul: “You belong … to Me.”

“There is a God,” she thought, getting off the train. “And He has a plan.”

The plan led her to a Louisville woman who led her to Christ, then spent the next six weeks discipling her — as Angela enthusiastically read the Bible over and over again. The plan led her back to Leon, who soon found it was easier to join Angela in her newfound faith than to fight it. And the plan led both of them into Bible Study Fellowship, where they studied Scripture, grew deeply in their faith, made countless new friends, and devoted their lives to reaching Christopher for Christ.

In time, Angela says, she realized two things. “Number one, Christopher did not belong to me. He belonged to the Lord. And, number two, I could not change him. The most important thing was not that Christopher become a heterosexual. It was that he would surrender to God.

“The minute I realized that, I felt all the burdens just … drop,” she says. “From then on, every day, in everything I said, I tried to show him Christ.”

Christopher, though, had a plan of his own. And it didn’t involve Christ or his parents.

Immersed in the homosexual party scene, he gradually embraced another obsession: drugs — both taking and selling. His dental school studies drifted; soon he found himself expelled from the program. He summoned his parents, who knew the dean, to come to his defense.

To his astonishment — and the dean’s — they brought to the meeting a different agenda.

“It’s not important that Christopher become a dentist,” Angela said. “It’s more important that he become a follower of Christ.” When the dean stared back at her, slack-jawed, she offered a clarification: “We’re going to support whatever decision the school makes.”

So, Christopher was out — and furious. He moved to Atlanta, where he took up full-time drugdealing, enjoying enormous success. What he’d learned growing up, working in his dad’s dental practice — accounting, marketing, detailed records — “I poured into drug-selling,” he says. “And business exploded.”

So, Christopher threw away the letters and postcards that came every day from his parents. He ignored the messages of love they left on his answering machine. When his father offered him the gift of his own personal Bible, Christopher contemptuously tossed it into the trash.

“My parents did everything correctly,” he says. “But when you have the wrong presupposition, you’re seeing the world through a totally different lens. What they intended as an action of love, I filtered through my own assumptions: ‘They want me to turn straight. They want me to change.’”

Soon, he was a major supplier for over 12 states — rolling in money, with plenty of homosexual friends to supplement what he’d left behind. “There’s a code word in the gay community,” he says, “for whether someone’s gay or not: ‘Is he family?’ What that subtly did was make me think, ‘My gay friends are my family, and my parents are not.’

“I just wanted to fit in, to be like everybody else,” he says. “Which is why the strength of the gay community is: you always fit in.” Besides, “as a prodigal, you rewrite history, based on what your friends are telling you. Mine were saying, ‘Your parents don’t understand. They hate you.’”

Meanwhile, his profits racked up, and the weekend parties grew wilder. His drug binges sometimes kept him up for days, even weeks at a time.

Change, when it did come, appeared from a very different direction.

Christopher opened his front door one morning to federal drug enforcement officers. They took him to the Atlanta jail, where, he says, “I called all my friends. Those people who were like, ‘Whatever you need. We’re family.’ Not one of them answered. Not one.”

That left one awkward option. He called home and braced for an outraged earful.

“But Mom’s first words were, ‘Son, are you OK?’” he says. “That was a big change.” The next day, she was at the jail, looking at him from the other side of the visitors’ glass, with a smile, some pictures of his childhood, and a joke: “Love your new apartment.”

For years, Angela had faithfully prayed that God would get her son’s attention. She’d enlisted hundreds of others to pray, too. Often, she’d fasted — sometimes for weeks at a time. But, if her son thought his incarceration would prompt some enabling, he’d forgotten the dean’s office.

My parents did everything correctly. But when you have the wrong presupposition, you’re seeing the world through a totally different lens.

Christopher Yuan

“Sentence him just long enough for him to turn to God,” she told the judge at Christopher’s hearing. “But not too long that it would break him.” Six years, the judge decided.

Christopher was stunned. Days later, walking around the cellblock, consumed with thoughts of how to get out of jail before his 30s, his eyes fell on an overflowing garbage can in the hallway. Perched atop the trash was a clean, new Gideon New Testament.

He took it back to his cell, thinking that reading it might pass some time. But other surprises were coming. Summoned to the jail infirmary, he learned that he’d tested positive for HIV … a virtual death sentence, at the time. Later, sobbing in his bunk, he looked up to see, amid all the graffiti and profanity scrawled on the bedframe, an odd note.

“If you’re bored, read Jeremiah 29:11.” It sounded like a Scripture verse. Looking about, he saw, remarkably, a Bible lying in a corner. He picked it up, found the chapter, and read: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ”

Curious, he read the whole chapter for context. He found that the verse was given to the people of Judah in exile. “I’m in exile,” he thought. “If God could have a plan for an entire nation in exile and rebellion … maybe He could have a plan for me.”

Parents believe they cannot talk to their kids about sexuality and gender. And kids believe they can’t talk to their parents or grandparents. So, the parents are giving their jobs to the churches. ‘‘ Christopher Yuan

That, Christopher says, was the beginning. In his soul, the dominoes of doubt began to fall. Like his mother, he took to reading the Bible. Praying. Inching toward a saving faith in Christ.

Even as he grew, some questions persisted. For one, did salvation require heterosexuality? He broached that to a prison chaplain, who assured him that “the Bible doesn’t condemn homosexuality” — and loaned him a book that supported his view. Christopher started the book, comparing it with the Scriptures.

During her son’s incarceration, Angela kept a list of “blessings” as she found reasons to be thankful. “If you are really seeking God,” she says, “you can see He is at work.”

“I couldn’t even get through the second chapter,” he says. “I thought, ‘This author isn’t saying what the Bible is saying.’” He marvels at how quickly the realization came to him. “Isn’t that a miracle?”

The miracles kept coming. Salvation. Reconciliation with his parents. Early release from prison. A call to Gospel ministry. Acceptance into seminary. And the beginning of a spiritual service — and a partnership — that would touch lives all over the world.

And, eventually … pushing the buttons of some powerful corporations.

Christopher’s salvation came with a changing understanding of his own identity — which, for years, had been tied up in his homosexuality. “I was reading the Bible and really wrestling,” he remembers. “Even as Christians, we want the world and God, too.”

He kept searching for something in Scripture that would say “homosexuality is OK.” After all, he thought, “Love is love. And God is love, right?” What he found, he says, was that God offers — and expects — something much deeper from His own.

“God expects holiness. His love is a holy love. Scripture says God is ‘holy, holy, holy’ — not ‘love, love, love.’ What God desires for us is to ‘be holy, for I am holy.’ He loves us, but unconditional love is not unconditional acceptance of our behavior. That was the turning point for me.”

“But then,” Christopher says, “what does holiness look like? What is God calling us to?” Not homosexuality, he saw in the Bible, or even heterosexuality, which offered its own sins and temptations. “I realized that my identity should not be defined by my sexuality. My identity as a child of God must be in Jesus Christ alone.”

That was freeing, Christopher says, because he realized God was simply calling him “by His grace … to Christ.” And: to “holy sexuality.”

“For me, that was just the huge light bulb. God is calling me, and all of humanity, to holiness.”

While in prison, Christopher began receiving invitations to speak to his fellow prisoners. Those opportunities to speak multiplied, during and after seminary. He found himself sharing the Bible’s teachings on sexuality in churches and on college campuses, with high school students, young adults, and parents. Someone suggested that a book could reach more people than one speaker, so he wrote one: Holy Sexuality and the Gospel

Though the book was influential and well-received, Christopher and his parents felt a growing burden — in a culture increasingly engulfed with sexual perversion and pro-LGBT propaganda — to reach the countless teenagers that churches and parents were losing.

“The biggest reason we’re in this situation today,” Christopher says, “is that parents believe they cannot talk to their kids about sexuality and gender. And kids

believe they can’t talk to their parents or grandparents. So, the parents are giving their jobs to the churches.”

Unfortunately, most churches, he says, see the solution as “a program. Once a year, ‘Let’s talk about this in youth group. Done. We checked that box.’ But once a year’s not enough when our kids are getting inundated on a daily basis.” The solution, the Yuans decided, was home discipleship — a guided discussion of the Bible’s perspective on sexual issues that parents and their children could work through together. They call it the Holy Sexuality Project.

While their first thought was to have Christopher simply revise his book for youth, they quickly encountered a problem: too many young people don’t like to read. A more likely approach for reaching families, the Yuans decided, would be a series of video lessons geared toward teens, featuring state-of-the-art animation.

A promising idea, but a huge and multi-milliondollar undertaking — one that the Yuans came to

God expects holiness. His love is a holy love. Scripture says God is ‘holy, holy, holy’ — not ‘love, love, love.’ ‘‘

Christopher Yuan

Christopher shoots a video for Holy Sexuality’s new pre-teen curriculum series, launching this spring.

realize required extensive project management software to bring in at a remotely reasonable cost. Happily, one of the largest makers of that kind of technology, Asana, was offering a 50% discount to any nonprofit that purchases their software products. Well, almost any.

When Christopher applied for the discount, Asana almost immediately turned him down. The offer, it said, was not available to religious organizations existing solely to propagate belief in a specific faith.

About that same time, Christopher applied for a similar, sizeable nonprofit discount from OpenAI, whose massive resources would help with translating the video series into different languages. It, too, rejected his request, based on the religious nature of his nonprofit.

Shortly after the Asana response, “Christopher contacted us,” says Mathew Hoffmann, ADF legal counsel, who then was working with the ministry’s Center for Free Speech. Looking into the situation, Hoffmann found that California — where both companies are based — “has a nondiscrimination act, which prohibits discrimination based on religion in public accommodations.”

While not all states apply their public accommodations laws to online entities like Asana and OpenAI, Hoffmann says, California does. The state’s Supreme Court “has explicitly interpreted its act to apply to online entities.” Meaning that the two companies’ policies, by prohibiting the participation of religious nonprofits like the Yuans’, were demonstrably violating that law. ADF sued both companies on Holy Sexuality’s behalf.

fairly, no matter their religion. It sends the message that it doesn’t pay to discriminate and that big tech companies are not immune from that assertion.

“Unfortunately,” Hoffmann says, “there are a lot of these policies that discriminate against religious people and nonprofits. And unless we stand up and have courage to defend what’s right, that’s going to continue. That Asana and OpenAI changed their policies so quickly shows the power of speaking out. One voice is magnified many times over and allows other religious nonprofits to get the same benefits.”

These cases set important cultural precedent. They show powerful big tech companies that … they’re not above the law.

‘‘

Mathew Hoffmann, ADF attorney

Neither corporation wanted to go to legal battle to defend their policies. Both quickly reached out-of-court settlements with Holy Sexuality, changed their policies — and gave the nonprofit the much-needed discounts.

“These cases set important cultural precedent,” Hoffmann says. “They show powerful big tech companies that, even with all their vast financial resources, they’re not above the law… and that they should treat people

Already, another nonprofit has benefited from the Holy Sexuality cases. Last fall, Divine Creative — a ministry made up of Christian creative professionals — successfully stood up to a software company that denied it access to an otherwise free program because it was “religious.” Working with a local attorney, the ministry referenced the precedent that was established through the Holy Sexuality cases. The result was a win for Divine Creative.

“Small ministries are using ADF’s precedent to push back on their own — and winning,” says Bailey Mullens, director of Divine Creative. “This was the third major tech company to reverse such a policy in 2025.”

“I’m a fighter,” Christopher smiles, “especially when it comes to principle. This opens the door for all other religious nonprofits and churches that are facing this discrimination. It was really awesome to be able to do that.”

Christopher’s father, Leon, didn’t live to see the results of all that he, his wife, and his son had worked to accomplish with the Holy Sexuality Project. He passed away in 2022, just before the launch of the video series in 2023. That series continues to reach tens of thousands all over the world, each lesson combining a biblical view of sexuality with a persistent invitation to faithfully follow Christ.

Now, two more series — aimed at pre-teen and early elementary school-aged children — are in the works; both should be available later this year. Their debut can’t come soon enough for Angela, who understands all too well what struggling parents are up against.

“We need to realize our children are rebelling,” she says. “It’s not just homosexuality or alcohol or drugs.

We need to realize our children are rebelling against God. Our main focus is not to change them, but to show them Jesus.

‘‘ Angela Yuan

They’re rebelling against God. Our main focus is not to change them, but to show them Jesus. Our children need to see Christ in us.”

She shakes her head, looking at the son who hurt her so deeply, for so long, that he drove her to Christ.

“Sometimes, I don’t even believe that was him before,” she says. “It’s like we were both different persons. He was a sweet little boy … but now I feel like all his focus is on serving the Lord, loving the Lord, wanting more people to know Jesus.”

LEARN MORE about the Holy Sexuality Project. Visit JoinADF.com/FJ-HSP

“It’s the Holy Spirit that moves in us,” Christopher says. “Convicts our hearts, changes our minds, opens our eyes. That’s the miracle of regeneration. What a miracle.”

He shakes his head, too … smiling at the memory, and irony, of plans changed. And a man who found freedom behind the walls of a prison.

“I wasn’t seeking,” he says. “I wasn’t looking. God just opened the door.”

My View Colorado Is Pushing Our Bookstore To Promote Gender Ideology

By Eric Smith

Five years ago, I walked into a bookstore in search of a book and walked out with the whole store.

To be fair, it didn’t happen that quickly. But in my hunt for a book that day, I learned the store — Born Again Used Books — was closing and that the owners were looking to sell. My wife, Sara, and I decided to pray about it.

We weren’t looking to buy a business. Our lives and schedules were already full. A few years before, I had helped plant a church and entered full-time pastoral ministry, while Sara was homeschooling our six kids. On top of that, the world was in the throes of a pandemic.

Owning and operating a bookstore, it’s safe to say, was not on our radar.

But after weeks of prayer and conversations with loved ones, we saw one door after another open. Trusted

friends encouraged us to pursue it. The Lord provided resources and a retail space. It was as if God were inviting us into this opportunity.

Within months, Born Again Used Books was, well, born again in a new brick-and-mortar location in Colorado Springs. And, to the surprise of everyone but God, we were the owners.

We didn’t realize it, but God had been preparing our hearts for this work for years — long before I walked through the store’s doors.

In saying ‘yes’ to God, He has provided the courage that we need to meet each challenge along the way. ‘‘

Eric Smith

Sara had majored in writing and literature in college, and she had worked in other bookstores. I had become familiar with Christian books and authors in seminary and during my 17 years on staff at a worldview and apologetics ministry.

As God so often does, He fitted our disparate experiences together for this unforeseen purpose.

Today, Born Again Used Books — named for both the secondhand books that are given new life in our store and the Christian faith that guides us — offers a wide array of Christian titles, classics, and homeschooling materials.

Our store is a place of ministry. Each day, we trust God as we decide which books to keep and resell, and we believe He will use those books to bless others. Beyond our day-to-day sales, we’ve also been able to give away Bibles, books, and other resources to homeschool families, elementary schools, retirement communities, missionaries, and more.

God is often working in the details. Sometimes we add a newly acquired book to our shelves in the morning, only to have a customer walk in hours later requesting that very title.

While Christians tend to frequent our store, many people who come through our doors don’t share our beliefs. Sometimes they wander in,

glance at the selection, and walk out. Other times, they hang around for a conversation, even if they don’t find quite what they’re looking for.

We treat everyone who enters our store with kindness and respect, seeking to show them the love of Christ. And, of course, we gladly sell our books to anyone.

Unfortunately, that isn’t enough for government officials in Colorado. Last year, the state legislature amended the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) to define “gender expression” to include “how an individual chooses to be addressed.”

That means Sara and I, and our employees, are expected to violate our beliefs by addressing a man who identifies as female as if he were a woman, and vice versa.

We watched and prayed as the law worked its way through the Colorado legislature last spring, concerned about how it could harm

We treat everyone who enters our store with kindness and respect, seeking to show them the love of Christ. ‘‘

Eric Smith

not only our store but our church members, our neighbors, and the state as a whole.

The changes to CADA are anchored in the lie of gender ideology, which says that an individual’s “identity” is what makes a person a man or a woman, not his or her biological sex. This ideology contradicts the fundamental Christian belief that God has created everyone in His image, either male or female — and that this is unchangeable.

It’s a lie with devastating consequences. As a pastor, I’ve seen the wreckage up close: parents, aunts, uncles, and children grieving as a loved one rejects truth and chooses a dark path of trying to change the way God made them.

So, when we saw how Colorado was looking to amend CADA to reinforce gender ideology — and potentially compel followers of Christ to speak consistently with that ideology — we prayed for God to intervene and stop the law.

In May, the amendment passed. But much like the open doors that led us to Born Again Used Books, God invited us to do something about it.

This was an opportunity to stand for truth and defend the right of people all over our state to speak that truth freely. ‘‘ Eric Smith

Of course, we cannot violate our beliefs by using pronouns or titles that don’t match a customer’s biological sex. Ultimately, we serve God, not man. This puts us on a collision course with the law. And the result? We could face crippling penalties like expensive investigations, hearings, and hefty fines.

So, with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, we decided to challenge the law.

Who are we to do this? Sara and I asked each other when we first began to consider this option. We were, admittedly, hesitant to take any legal action.

But through careful consideration and much prayer, God made it clear that this was an important step of faith. The law poses a very real threat to our business, our place of ministry. Even more, we saw that this was an opportunity to stand for truth and defend the right of people all over our state to speak that truth freely.

We didn’t feel courageous — not at first. However, in saying “yes” to God, He has provided the courage that we need to meet each challenge along the way. Sometimes it’s through a kind message on social media. Other times, it’s through a customer walking in and offering to pray with us. We’ve even heard from pastors across the country who have learned about our case and called to tell us, “Our church is praying for you.”

Though we didn’t expect that this would be part of our story, God knew. He penned it all long ago.

And we’re reminded every day that He is the greatest Author of all.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an internationally prominent Muslim-turned-atheist who recently came to faith in Christ. A Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, she founded the AHA Foundation, which she launched in 2007 to protect women from harmful cultural practices, including female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and honor killings. She is also a bestselling author.

Born in Somalia, Hirsi Ali fled to Holland as a young woman to escape a forced marriage. She claimed political asylum, eventually rising to serve as an elected member of the Dutch Parliament, then to wider prominence speaking out against Islam’s treatment of women and advocating for women’s rights. She now lives in the United States.

Hirsi Ali broke with Islam in the wake of 9/11 and assumed a role in the New Atheist movement, alongside prominent figures of modern atheism. In late 2023, she announced her conversion to Christianity.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali An Obscure Baker Helped Lead Me To Christ

By Karen Kurtz

Ayaan Hirsi Ali share her story. Visit JoinADF.com/FJ-Ayaan

At Alliance Defending Freedom’s Summit for Religious Liberty in summer 2025, she cited the story of Colorado cake artist and ADF client Jack Phillips as the catalyst that caused her to reconsider atheism. This Q&A was adapted from her remarks.

F&J: When you were associated with New Atheism, you were fiercely critical of religion. But that changed two years ago. What caused you to reconsider atheism and the secular values you had espoused for many years?

AHI: I thought atheism was the epitome of reason and tolerance. I was on the East Coast somewhere, and this whole story broke about some guy [ADF client Jack Phillips] who didn’t want to create a cake, and some people were going to make him create a cake.

It was right around the time the whole “gay people can marry” idea had been accepted. Lots and lots of gay people were getting married, and this [same-sex] couple wanted to get married, too. You know what I think of

Here was this couple — in this capitalist nation of the world; they could have a cake created anywhere, but they wanted to have this man create their cake. ‘‘

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

wanting to get married? You bring in your best friends, and you celebrate this intimacy — this person that you love so much and that you want to spend the rest of your life with. That is the one thing you absolutely do not want to politicize.

And here was this couple — in this capitalist nation of the world; they could have a cake created anywhere, but they wanted to have this man create their cake. They were going to take him to court, and they were going to humiliate him. To me, it was illiberal, it was intolerant, it was the very opposite of reason. It was so grotesque I couldn’t understand it.

And that was the first time the seeds of doubt were sown in my mind that my atheism is absolutely wrong. It reminded me of the Marxist schools in Somalia. It reminded me of Islamism — it is “We have our way or no other way.”

Later, of course, I learned who this man — the obscure baker, Jack Phillips — was. And my admiration for him is infinite because all he did was just stand in his faith and humbly stand his ground. His fortitude — that is the example, the inspirational example. That is what I related to more than all my years of atheism. And that’s sort of what knocked me off my atheist days.

F&J: In a recent speech, you made it clear that, despite your background in atheism, you now view the JudeoChristian worldview and Christian morality as essential to preserving the West. What should we be doing to reclaim those truths?

My admiration for him is infinite because all he did was just stand in his faith and humbly stand his ground…. That is what I related to more than all my years of atheism. ‘‘

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

AHI: We have to come out of hiding and say, “This is who we are.” We’ve been cowed the last 50 years into accepting and adopting — to be embarrassed about who we are as Christians. Christians in America and in Europe have been told the only way to be a good Christian is to hide your Christianity, and we are paying the price. They came into our classrooms, they edited out the Bible, they edited out the Ten Commandments, and they edited out the Sermon on the Mount. They did the same in the universities. They did the same in the media; they did the same in government.

And in the name of tolerance, we allowed it to happen. Now is the time to say, “No more,” because it is no longer about posturing. We are at a place right now where we are about survival.

Our responsibility — those of us who have lived in America and in Europe and who have benefited from the fruits of what others fought and died for — our duty is to pass it on to the next generation. I came to this country, and I was treated like a princess. I was given a visa. I lived here, I thrived, I prospered. All I can do in return is to remind you this is the legacy that people fought for and died for. We can’t pass it on to the next generation by only talking to them about [our] comforts and this and that. We have to go back to what made this country and what made 2,000 years of Christianity and European prosperity.

And the only way to do it is to be truthful and to sound like Jack Phillips did. For what is true, we have to recapture these institutions of education. Tender hearts and minds have now been captured by the Marxists and are about to be claimed by the Islamists. And if we don’t do [something about] that, we are betraying those who fought for us, and we are betraying the next generation.

F&J: With all that is happening in the world and our country today, where does your own hope come from?

AHI: I have hope in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And I say it intentionally, because I know this is the sort of thing we’re “not supposed to say.” I’m a sinner. I’m weak of flesh and of mind. But every morning I get up and I pray and look to my God, and I say, “I’m a sinner. Forgive me.” That gives me peace of mind, and it gives me the strength to go on.

Opinion

The School Didn’t Tell Us Our Daughter Would Be Rooming With A Boy

By Joe Wailes

School board officials work hard, and the work is not easy. But let’s be honest: their responsibilities are clear. They are elected to 1) meet children’s educational needs; 2) partner with parents to that end; and 3) help teachers navigate the challenges of today’s classrooms.

Sadly, Jefferson County Public Schools is 0 for 3.

We learned the score firsthand when my wife, Serena, went along on a multi-day school-sponsored trip to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., with our 11-year-old daughter. On the first night, as students settled into their hotel rooms, Serena received a call from our little girl.

With a quiver in her voice, she told Serena that she had discovered that her bedmate was a boy.

We were shocked. Before the trip, we were assured that boys and girls would be roomed separately. The students were also told that boys were not even allowed on the girls’ floor without permission. No one told us our young daughter might be assigned to room and possibly share a bed with a male student.

As a father, I felt helpless. You want to protect your child. To be there. To go get her. And you can’t do that when she’s over a thousand miles away.

Trying to figure out how our daughter was placed in such an uncomfortable position, we discovered that she wasn’t the only one.

Under the Jefferson County Public Schools (Jeffco) policy, students on school-sponsored trips aren’t roomed based on biological sex, but on “gender identity” — which Jeffco allows students to change at any time. Parents, though, aren’t told that an opposite-sex student might be changing clothes or sharing beds or shower facilities with their child on an overnight trip.

When Serena reported the issue to trip leaders, they asked our daughter to just switch beds in the same hotel room and pretend that she needed to do so to be near the air conditioner — which was a lie.

When that didn’t work (because one of the other students offered to switch beds so the boy could remain with our daughter), they finally agreed to move the male student to a different room.

The whole situation was harmful and unnecessary, but that’s not all.

The school policy threatens children’s privacy and puts teachers in a difficult position, compelling them to keep some parents in the dark about what’s happening with their children. And it violates parents’ fundamental right to make informed decisions about their child’s upbringing, education, and privacy.

These kinds of things aren’t just happening to our family. We later learned of a sixth-grade boy who participated in one of Jeffco’s multi-day, overnight Outdoor Lab programs (which all sixth-grade students are expected to attend) — no cell phones allowed. The parents were assured their son would be sharing a cabin with other sixth-grade boys.

But once in the mountains, with no way to contact their parents, the boys learned their assigned counselor was actually a female who identified as nonbinary. She slept in the cabin with the boys and monitored their showers. Needless to say, this made the boys very uncomfortable. The boy refused to shower during the trip. And he and other boys resorted to changing inside their sleeping bags.

For nearly two years now, parents have been expressing their concerns to Jeffco officials. Their response has effectively been to shrug their shoulders — as if they don’t care (or can’t do anything).

Parents — not school officials — have the right to decide whether their child will share a bed or bedroom with the opposite sex. We have a right and a duty to protect our children’s care and privacy, and we can’t do that if we don’t have all the information we need.

That’s why we, along with three other families and the help of our attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the district’s policy — a case that is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. We’re simply asking that Jeffco include — not exclude — all parents and not penalize our families because of our religious beliefs. We’re asking that they protect the privacy of all students, not just some.

Together, we’re standing up for our parental rights and our children’s privacy. And we hope and pray for a decision that will help a lot of other families in the future. That decision can’t come soon enough.

Jeffco is failing to fulfill its responsibilities to families, parents, and teachers — and unfortunately, it’s our children who are paying the biggest price.

This is adapted from an article that appeared in the January edition of Decision magazine.

We have a right and a duty to protect our children’s care and privacy, and we can’t do that if we don’t have all the information we need. ‘‘

Joe Wailes

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