Religious freedom & parental rights on the docket for 2026

Donald Trump is president, Republicans still hold the majority in Congress, and young people are flocking back to church in droves. But the LGBTQ and Planned Parenthood’s attacks on Christians are ramping up like never before. We are only six days into the new year, and in 2026, it looks like we will be busier than ever battling for the right to life, religious liberty, and the natural family.

Below, I will detail just a handful of our pending cases. But first, please take a moment to support our legal fund. We simply cannot do this important work without YOU, the faithful Liberty Counsel supporter.

Defend religious freedom, life, and family with your gift in 2026!

Before the U.S. Supreme Court...

Religious Discrimination

Does v. NY Gov. Hochul

Liberty Counsel represents New York health care workers forced out of business and jobs due to NY Gov. Kathy Hochul's violation of religious discrimination protections in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Hochul ordered businesses to violate federal law by refusing ALL religious accommodations to the COVID shots or face fines and loss of their business licenses. For health care workers, Hochul denied their federal rights and ordered every person who refused the experimental COVID jab on religious grounds to be fired. 

Overturning Christian Counseling Bans

Chiles v. Salazar

The LGBTQ crowd has worked hard to coerce cities and states around the nation to ban Christian Counseling to help resolve gender confusion and unwanted attractions. Liberty Counsel has overturned 23 such bans, freeing people to receive counseling in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. These wins set up this case for the U.S. Supreme Court. However, 87 such bans remain across the nation. Liberty Counsel submitted amicus briefs to the Supreme Court in Chiles v. Salazar, and oral arguments were presented on October 7, 2025. We await the High Court’s decision in this monumental case.

Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports & Private Spaces

West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox

“Becky” Pepper-Jackson is a biological male, who won several girl’s high school sports titles, before the State of West Virginia passed a law banning men in women’s sports. Now Mr. Pepper-Jackson is suing the state seeking to overturn the ban so that he can continue winning girl’s titles and scholarships. A similar law is under challenge in the Little case from Idaho. Liberty Counsel submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, and oral arguments will be January 13.

In the lower courts...

No Church, No Bible court order — Maine Supreme Court

Bickford v. Bradeen 

When Ava was 11, she wanted to be baptized. Her father, a non-believer who apparently hates God and the Bible, ran to the court to stop her baptism. In one of the most outrageously antireligious court orders I have ever seen, a Maine judge ruled that church could be “psychologically harmful” and banned a perfectly fit mother from taking her own daughter to church. I delivered oral arguments before the Maine Supreme Court on November 13, and we await the court’s decision. If the Maine Supreme Court rules against Emily and Ava, we will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Battling attempts to force ministries to promote LGBTQ 

Zinksi v. Liberty University — Oral argument in March

Jonathan Zinksi and the ACLU are trying to force Liberty University (LU) to abandon its Christian doctrine that God created male and female. The lawsuit seeks to force LU to replace its Christian doctrine with LGBTQ ideology. This case has the potential to reach the Supreme Court. Oral argument is set for March.

Defending Christians from Forced Gender Ideology

Multiple cases, including Grossenbach v. University of Arizona, Maj. Worley v. Idaho National Guard, Tarpo v. Clackamus

Liberty Counsel is defending teachers and parents from the LGBTQ’s attempt to force participation in their twisted gender ideology. From university professors and military members fired or punished for speaking out against LGBTQ indoctrination to pastors who have had their real estate licenses revoked because their churches teach God’s design for men and women to social workers who objected to government-mandated LGBTQ policies, we are fighting for safety and sanity in our schools and culture. We have hundreds of cases. 

In our 36-year history, Liberty Counsel has won 40 cases that we have argued or briefed before the U.S. Supreme Court and thousands of other cases in the lower courts.

Perhaps because of our winning record, Planned Parenthood and the LGBTQ are trying to do an end run around the courts, enforcing their campaign to silence, murder, and maim.

Having lost much of its abortion business since Roe was overturned, Planned Parenthood is now one of the largest purveyors of “gender-affirming care.” Now the abortion giant isn’t just killing children in the womb, they are also sterilizing children before they can mature to create and bear a child.

The “Equality Act” (HR 15) also seeks to shore up Planned Parenthood’s killing factories, making abortion up until birth — including the gruesome partial birth abortions Sandra Merritt exposed.

Already, 212 House Democrats have co-sponsored this bill. They only need a few more votes, and this religious freedom-ending, baby-killing bill will pass. Flood Congress with your demand that they VOTE NO on HR 15!