Hobby Lobby founder linked to campaign to overturn marriage equality
Hobby Lobby (Getty Images)
Hobby Lobby, the popular American chain of craft stores, has been linked to a massive donation to a campaign aggressively fighting against marriage equality across the US.
The chain, which began in Oklahoma back in 1972, has previously been financially supportive of organisations and foundations with causes that aim to erode LGBTQ+ protections – most directly through the actions of its owners, the Green family.
The retailer’s billionaire CEO and founder, David Green, is a funder of The National Christian Foundation and Christian nonprofit The Servant Foundation. The Servant Foundation is known for being a strong source of funding for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), as reported by openDemocracy in 2024, which is described as an ‘anti-LGBTQ+ hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center. However, ADF denies this allegation.
The Servant Foundation is most widely known for bankrolling the “He Gets Us” ad campaigns – aiming to “reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible” – which launched in 2022 and notably ran during the 2024-2025 Super Bowls.
New reporting from The Seattle Times has revealed that The Servant Foundation donated $300,000 to the advocacy group “Them Before Us”, which, according to their website, seeks to defend “children’s right to their mother and father”.
The organisation has reportedly seen a sharp increase in funding since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade protections in 2022, growing from less than $50,000 in reported revenue for its first few years to nearly $1million in 2024.
Them Before Us is one of dozens of organisations behind the “Greater Than” campaign, launched earlier this year with the goal of urging the US Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 ruling that legalised same-sex marriage nationwide. The group was founded in 2018 and is led by Katy Faust, who has publicly campaigned against marriage equality, surrogacy, IVF, and divorce.
The Greater Than Campaign released a promotional video to the Them Before Us YouTube channel in late January this year and made their stance and mission plain in the caption, writing: “Once husbands and wives became optional, mothers and fathers became replaceable. But for a child, their mother and father are never optional, they are essential. Children need both a mother and a father to provide stability, guidance, and the unique love only a man and woman can give. No adult desire or ideology can change that.”
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