# Women's Liberation Front

The Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) is an American trans-exclusionary radical feminist organization that opposes transgender rights and related legislation. It opposed the Obama administration's Title IX directives which defined sex discrimination to include gender identity. It has participated in G. G. v. Gloucester County School Board and the landmark supreme court case R. G. & G. R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

## Structure and ideology

WoLF was founded by author and activist Lierre Keith, who currently serves as its chair. As of 2021, WoLF reported having nearly 1,000 members across the United States. WolF describes itself as radical feminist organization. WoLF has been characterized by Vox, The New Republic, and La Presse, The Advocate, and The Washington Post as a "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" (TERF) group, and it has been described as a hate group by the Gender Justice League and the University of Wisconsin Law School QLaw student group. NBC has said it is "best known for its opposition to transgender rights".
The Women's Liberation Front's activism finds its source in second-wave feminist tendencies, such as those of Mary Daly and Janice Raymond, which consider transgender identities untrue and say that women are defined by "their biology, and by having 'survived girlhood'", rather than by gender identity. While considered a fringe group by the mainstream progressives, who say the group conceals an essentially discriminatory right-wing ideology under the guise of feminism, the organization has found influence through collaboration with conservative groups on shared legislative views. Progressive and feminist organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)and the National Organization for Women (NOW) challenge this characterization, with NOW describing WoLF, alongside Women's Declaration International, as "anti-trans bigots disguised as feminists".
Co-Chair Kara Danksy has stated her organization supports gay rights and abortion rights but that "on certain issues, such as gender identity, pornography and prostitution, WoLF finds that the left has pretty much sold out women".

## Litigation and legal advocacy

In August 2016, WoLF filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration for its directive on Title IX permitting students to use bathrooms based on their reported gender identity. In their filing, WoLF stated that the Obama administration equated the terms "sex" with "gender identity" without evidence, and that, by doing so, the administration contradicted the intent of Title IX. Following the election of Donald Trump, the directive was withdrawn. The suit ended in voluntary dismissal after WoLF withdrew from the suit in March 2017.
WoLF has filed several amicus curiae briefs to the Supreme Court in opposition to transgender rights. WoLF partnered with the Family Policy Alliance (FPA) to file a joint brief in support of the plaintiff of G. G. v. Gloucester County School Board, opposing a lower court ruling in favor of Gavin Grimm, a trans boy who desired to use the boys' restroom at his high school. The organization also filed a brief in R. G. & G. R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a landmark Supreme Court case involving the issue of whether the firing of transgender funeral director Aimee Stephens from Harris Funeral Homes constituted sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. WoLF's brief referred to Stephens as a man, and argued that sex should not be considered equivalent to gender identity; WoLF also organized rallies in opposition to Stephens' case outside the Supreme Court in October 2020.
In November 2021, WoLF filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation over its policy of permitting transgender, non-binary, and intersex prisoners to be detained in facilities corresponding to their gender identity.

## Alignment with right-wing organizations

In 2016, WoLF received a $15,000 donation from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative Christian organization that opposes abortion and LGBT rights.
In May 2017, WoLF partnered with the Hands Across the Aisle Coalition, Concerned Parents and Educators, and the Family Policy Alliance to submit a petition for rule-making to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "to protect the safety and privacy of women in need of shelter due to homelessness or violence".
In 2019, three members of WoLF appeared on a panel with conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. The panel focused on the Equality Act, legislation pending in Congress that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Progressives criticized WoLF's participation in the panel, which included Jennifer Chavez reading "from a letter that described increased transgender visibility and acceptance as 'a social contagion all over the internet'".