Advocates Protecting Children
This content was last updated Oct. 3, 2023, 9:42 p.m. UTC
Advocates Protecting Children (APC) is a Christian non-profit working to oppose “gender ideology” within institutions such as schools and churches. They share a variety of anti-trans resources on their website, including memes, blog posts, videos, and books.
APC is most notable for helping to host the Clarity in a Confused World conference, which platforms many anti-trans pastors, activists, and legal professionals. A variety of different talks take place during this conference, including those hosted by APC co-founders.
Terms such as “transphobe,""TERF,” and “truscum” are abusive words, and are slurs used to silence and malign anyone who dissents from gender ideology’s tenets. We do not use these terms, or others like them, nor do we endorse those who do.
Founding
Advocates Protecting Children is a 501(c)3 organization that began in October of 2021 and, according to the website, was incorporated on 9 November 2021. They achieved tax-exempt status in February of 2022 and began posting on their website around March of 2022.
They are based in Arlington, Virginia, where they also have a PO box.
In an interview with the Family Research Council news outlet The Washington Stand, co-founder Erin Brewer said the following of the organization’s purpose. “Basically, it was formed in order to do everything we can to protect children from gender ideology — specifically to protect children from the medical interventions but also to stop the policies that enable the transgender ideology in our schools, churches, public places, anywhere where they’ve sort of made inroads.”
Finances
An IRS tax exempt organization search shows that APC brought in less than $50,000.00 in 2021 and 2022.
The organization receives some portion of its income through the website shop, as well as donations sent via PayPal. It is unclear just how much income it receives from both of these sources.
History of Anti-LGBTQ+ Activism
On their website, APC features the ability to book the various co-founders for events to discuss a wide array of topics, from how to make churches less trans friendly to detoxing people to become detransitioners.
The website’s resources page features a variety of links to different books, documentaries, podcasts, and references to other organizations for people to view. Among the recommendations are Abigail Shrier’s book Irreversible Damage, the Swedish Trains Train documentary, the APC-ran podcast Commonsense Care, and links to various anti-trans groups such as the American College of Pediatricians, Transgender Trend, and Genspect. Relatedly, the former director of ACPeds - Michelle Cretella - serves on the advisory board of APC.
There is also an outreach section on the website, detailing how to approach schools, churches, policymakers, and the general public about why they should adopt anti-trans principles. This section features toolkits for parents to use, links to relevant lawsuits, links to resources both on and off the website that will help for the given topics, and a guide for how to do this kind of work.
ACP also sells products such as cards that aim to tell businesses supporting “transgender ideology” why purchasers will no longer shop there.
The website also features a variety of memes for people to spread around social media that feature common anti-trans talking points, such as conflations of biological sex and gender.
Clarity in a Confused World
On October 15, 2022, ACP worked with the St. Peter Catholic Church in West Brandywine, Pennsylvania, to establish the “Clarity in a Confused World” Conference. This conference was dedicated to opposing “gender ideology,” featuring a variety of guest speakers discussing the ways in which transgender people are harming children, and how to view the topic from a conservative Christian perspective.
Two founders of ACP, Erin Brewer and Maria Keffler, served as speakers at the conference, where they spread the rhetoric as to how supposedly harmful being trans is on children. ACP hosts clips of the speakers over on its website. This conference offered a Continuing Legal Education credit to all legal professionals who attended.