A billboard bearing the message “NO GAYS ALLOWED” has been installed in New York City’s iconic Times Square.
NBC reports that the billboard, which reads “NO GAYS ALLOWED” on a blank white background, was installed on Tuesday and is set to remain in place until February.
Despite the outwardly homophobic message, the Times Square billboard is not what it initially seems.
The ADF has filed a string of lawsuits challenging state-level anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBT+ people, most notably representing anti-LGBT baker Jack Phillips to advance the argument that religious freedom gives Christian business owners the right to discriminate against gay customers.
The ad directs users to NoGaysAllowed.org, a website that warns: “ADF opposes LGBT equality and advocates for measures intended to make LGBT people second-class citizens. ADF is trying to legalize discrimination against LGBT people in health care, wedding services, the workplace, and public accommodations.
An activist group known as Citizens for Transparency claimed responsibility for the Times Square ad.
Spokesperson Caleb Cade told NBC: “We want to remind people that there are still really insidious forces at work against our community.
However, not everyone is on board, and several people on social media complained that the ad appears outwardly homophobic.
Extremism watchdog the Southern Poverty Law Center ascribes the hate group label to Alliance Defending Freedom, noting that the group has actively supported the criminalisation of homosexuality in Belize.
Despite its extreme views, however, the Trump administration has maintained close links to the law firm.
The formation of a White House religious freedom task force was announced in July at an event featuring several Alliance Defending Freedom representatives.
Under recently-fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department frequently weighed in on court battles on the side of the ADF, filing a brief to the Supreme Court supporting Phillips.
US Solicitor General Noel Francisco delivered oral arguments as part of the baker’s defence on behalf of the Trump administration.
Francisco appeared to answer in the affirmative when Justice Anthony Kennedy asked if the baker could “put a sign in his window [saying] ‘we do not bake cakes for gay weddings”.
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