I don’t want to alarm you, but they want to silence our religious beliefs and our faith in God.
Several months ago, I shared with you that Idaho Family Policy Center is being sued for defamation by a Coeur d’Alene drag performer—all because we sounded the alarm on his sexualized performance at a city park.
Put simply, we believe his real goal is to destroy IFPC and intimidate us into silence. Not only is the drag performer coming after IFPC, but he’s also coming after me and Pastor Josh Bales personally—and if he’s successful, he could take our homes, our cars, and our livelihoods.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, I was told last week that the drag performer’s attorney – longtime progressive activist Wendy Olson – filed a motion asking the court to restrict us from discussing our faith in God and biblical truth during the upcoming trial.
According to Wendy Olson, “any invocation of God or prayer may introduce unfair prejudice or mislead the jury,” and therefore our faith and any reference to God should be excluded from evidence and testimony under Idaho rules.
Newsflash: Idaho Family Policy Center is a Christian ministry that seeks to advance the lordship of Christ and promote biblically sound public policy.
We believe that real biblical faith isn’t private, but instead informs and undergirds everything that the Christian does. It would be impossible for me or Pastor Josh to explain our public response to the Coeur d’Alene drag show incident without talking about our faith.
What’s the real agenda? It appears that the drag performer and Wendy Olson want to prevent us from discussing our religious beliefs so they can portray us as bigots with personal animosity toward drag performers.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Everything we do at IFPC flows from our love for God and love for our neighbors. We don’t hate drag performers. My heart breaks for anyone who is trapped in the brokenness of their sin, including the drag performer who is suing us. In fact, we pray for him regularly—even during our weekly IFPC team meetings.
I want to be clear: Our motivation in discussing the Coeur d’Alene drag show incident was never to shame the performer involved. Instead, our only goal is to protect children from being exposed to indecent sexual performances by changing state law—nothing more, nothing less.
That being said, Wendy Olson and the rest of the drag performer’s legal team are doing everything imaginable to drive up our legal fees and court costs. Our last monthly invoice for legal fees was over $33,000—and these costs are quickly depleting resources that we need for IFPC policy and church engagement programs.
Will you stand in the gap with IFPC during this critical time? Your financial gift will help ensure we’re able to keep promoting God-honoring public policy and continue engaging the church on cultural issues, even as we refuse to kowtow to this legal intimidation from our political opponents.
And please be praying for our upcoming hearing on August 13, 2025, at which time the court will deal with the various motions that have been filed in the case. We are trusting that God will go before us—and that He will neither leave us nor forsake us (Deut. 31:8).
P.S. You can also see our attorney’s response to Wendy Olson’s demand letters if you would like to see unedited pictures of the incident or read our legal arguments [please note: viewer discretion is advised].
One Response
What about the First Amendment of the US Constitution? It states that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. It was extended to the state and local governments, so that the government could never interfere with how people choose to practice religion. To file a motion to restrict religion or talking about God is unconstitutional. Freedom of Religion is in the First Amendment. Our founding fathers broke away from England for this very right. Our Constitution needs to be upheld, or we will lose other freedoms as well. Also in the first amendment is freedom of speech which states, “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech”. Therefore it is our right as not just Christians but also as American citizens to proclaim our faith and we are protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Any motion to block that is unconstitutional. We as Christians have the law on our side. I’m praying that the judge sees it that way.