22, 2020, less than two months before U.S. The Liberty Counsel discusses its reasoning for its anti-vaccine positions in a presentation titled “Vaccines and Religious Liberty.” LC chairperson Matthew Staver appears to have given the presentation on Oct. Torba did not respond to Hatewatch’s request for comment. Torba espouses antisemitic, far-right Christian Nationalist rhetoric. However, the petition lists Gab CEO Andrew Torba as the author. The metadata for the Gab files also contains the names John and Karen Seipp, but the “create” and “modify” dates in the Gab files precede those on the LC files, suggesting the LC retrieved some of its exemption requests from Gab.Ī petition calling for Michigan State University to end its mask-wearing and vaccine mandates features the text of the LC and Gab Orthodox exemption request. The document shares metadata with another trove of religious exemption requests on Gab. But the document’s origins likely lie in Gab, a social media site popular with the hard right.

The metadata for the Orthodox Christian request lists “John and Karen Seipp” as the creator. Hatewatch was unable to find DeLapp’s contact information. Hatewatch asked the LC and ADF about the documents. The metadata for the student exemption suggests DeLapp created the document while employed at ADF. DeLapp became ADF’s director for visual communications in August 2021. DeLapp also told the Hillsdale College Student Activities Board in 2018 that she was the digital director for the Michigan Republican Party.Īfter the leaving the White House, DeLapp joined the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ hate group, as a campaign manager in February 2021, according to a data broker. Larsen was on Trump’s short list for Supreme Court vacancies, and Viviano is DeLapp’s uncle, she said.

In 2016, she also told the Hillsdale Collegian, the college newspaper, that she worked on the campaigns of two conservative Republican Michigan Supreme Court justices, Joan Larsen and David Viviano. DeLapp attended Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. Metadata lists Bridgett DeLapp as the creator of the student, employment and pastoral exemption requests.ĭeLapp worked as a digital designer at the White House during the Trump administration, according to government records. Hatewatch examined metadata for these files, some of which appears to show who created the documents. Also, the leak contains broad employment and student exemption requests. The LC hosts boilerplate religious exemptions on its website for Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians and Jewish people. The LC did not respond to Hatewatch’s request for comment.

The LC has also worked against vaccine mandates for decades. Supreme Court cited an LC brief in its June 24 decision to end 50 years of abortion protection. The LC is an anti-LGBTQ hate group, but it works on various cultural issues popular with the hard right under the guise of religious activism. The leak also shows the LC stored a trove of misinformation regarding COVID-19 vaccines. Hatewatch reviewed metadata from the files and public information suggesting that some of these requests were created by outside parties, including an employee of the SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab, a social media site popular with the hard right. The documents include LC’s boilerplate religious exemption requests for various faiths, students, employees and pastors. Hatewatch then reviewed the documents on the LC website when it was back online. Transparency collective Distributed Denial of Secrets, which provides access to journalists, allowed Hatewatch to review the documents. The hacker released the leak on Enlace Hacktivista, a hacktivist site. However, the LC website was down after a hacker who identifies with the Anonymous movement exploited vulnerabilities in the website’s software. Most of the documents are publicly available on the LC website. Hatewatch reviewed over 40 documents from a leak of files showing the LC’s anti-vaccine and health protocol activism.

Religious vaccine exemption letter free