The University of Alabama Young Americans for Freedom chapter (UA YAF) has been named the March 2025 YAF Chapter of the Month.
This spring, the University of Alabama administration cracked down and forced all clubs to include “gender identity” in their club constitutions. UA YAF, refusing to validate leftist gender ideology, pushed back and submitted their constitution without the required language.
School administrators then informed them that if they didn’t add the clause, they would no longer be recognized and could not reserve space on campus for events or meetings, stifling their free speech rights.
UA YAF fought back and refused to take this as an answer. Utilizing their connections with local officials, including the Alabama Attorney General, the chapter sent an email to the university president demanding this policy be reversed. The next day, the school informed YAF that they would be exempted.
But UA YAF didn’t stop there – they didn’t want any other club to have this language forced upon them and kept fighting until the school retracted the requirements for all clubs. This continued fight sparked leftist uproar, including protests against the administration and the chapter.
The chapter also hosted Seth Dillon, CEO of the Babylon Bee, to speak on free speech and censorship. During the speech, Dillon addressed the realities conservative students face: “Much more problematic than hard censorship, where they’re actually doing the work of taking down your content, is the soft censorship that occurs when people fear some kind of consequence for speaking their mind. In that way, they tyrants trick us into doing their work for them.”
Chapter Chair Trenton Buffenbarger stated, “Fighting this battle allowed our chapter to show that conservatives are going to boldly stand for our beliefs, no matter the odds.”
The following members were instrumental in UA YAF’s success:
Starting your own YAF chapter is the first step to impacting your campus, like UA YAF. More information can be found here.
