American Principles Project vs. transgender people

by Andrea James Reviewed September 27, 2026 4 min read

The American Principles Project is a conservative think tank with resources dedicated to anti-transgender policies.

Background

APP was founded in 2009 by Robert P. George, Jeff Bell, and Francis P. Cannon. American Principles Project Foundation (APPF) is the research and education arm of the American Principles Project.

Anti-trans activism

According to analysis by journalist Erin Reed:

“The American Principles Project and the Alliance Defending Freedom identified a cynical new strategy: if they could start with sports bans, they could warm politicians up to passing full-blown eliminationist laws targeting trans people. In an interview with CNN, Terry Schilling at the American Principles Project explained this strategy, “’The women’s sports issue was really the beginning point in helping expose all this because what it did was, it got opponents of the LGBT movement comfortable with talking about transgender issues.’”

In 2019, American Principles Project released its first anti-trans advertisement to ban transgender people from sports in Kentucky.

Key people

Founders

Robert P. George
Jeff Bell
Francis P. Cannon

Anti-trans contributors

Terry Schilling
Pedro Gonzalez (published The Transgender Leviathan in 2022)

References

Reed, Erin (September 18, 2026). American Principles Project Warns Republicans That Targeting Trans People “May Not Be Sufficient” To Win 2026. Erin In The Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/american-principles-project-warns

McCullough, Caleb (August 28, 2026). Why Republicans are focusing on transgender issues in competitive 2026 campaigns. PoliticFact https://politifact.com/article/2026/aug/28/why-republicans-are-focusing-on-transgender-issues-in-competitive-2026-campaigns/

Skalla, Liz (May 12, 2025). The Activist Who Persuaded Republicans To Target Trans Rights. The Assembly https://www.theassemblync.com/news/politics/terry-schilling-trans-bathroom-bill-hb2/

Tannehill, Brynn (November 6, 2025). The GOP Went Big on Anti-Trans Ads This Year. And Guess What Happened? The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/202818/election-anti-trans-ads-republicans-lost-virginia

Reed, Erin (November 15, 2024). Opinion: The Trans Sports Attacks Were Never About Sports. Erin In The Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/opinion-the-trans-sports-attacks

McCordick, Jack (October 25, 2023). The Shadowy Right-Wing Think Tank Pushing Transphobia. New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/176012/american-principles-project-think-tank-pushing-transphobia

Contreras, Russell (March 31, 2023). The forces behind anti-trans bills across the U.S. Axios https://www.axios.com/2023/03/31/anti-trans-bills-2023-america

Reed, Erin (January 11, 2023). It Was Never About Sports: The Strategy Of The Anti-Trans Right. Erin In The Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/it-was-never-about-sports-the-strategy

Zelle, Melanie (April 20, 2023). Schilling’s Leviathan: An Analysis of Research by The American Principles Project. Swarthmore Phoenix https://swarthmorephoenix.com/2023/04/20/schillings-leviathan-an-analysis-of-research-by-the-american-principles-project/

Carlisle, Madeleine (May 16, 2022). Inside the Right-Wing Movement to Ban Trans Youth From Sports. TIME https://time.com/6176799/trans-sports-bans-conservative-movement/

Weigel, Dave (March 2, 2021). The Trailer: Why Republicans keep running against trans rights. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/02/trailer-why-republicans-keep-running-against-trans-rights/

Anti-trans coverage

King, Ryan (August 7, 2026). AI James Talarico stars as sex-change doc operating on girl in conservative PAC $10M ad blitz. New York Post https://nypost.com/2026/08/07/us-news/conservative-pac-kicks-off-10m-ad-blitz-with-spot-depicting-an-ai-talarico-as-sex-change-doc-operating-on-girl/

Vakil, Caroline (March 14, 2025). Conservative group launches six-figure campaign hitting Ossoff over transgender vote. The Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5195702-ossoff-transgender-vote/

Joseph, Jamie (November 8, 2024). Trump’s ‘they/them’ ads combined culture war, economic worries to make effective pitch: expert. Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-they-them-ads-combined-culture-war-economic-worries-make-effective-pitch-expert

Bachman. Rachel; Kusisto, Laura; Maher, Kris (November 7, 2024). The Trump Ads That Pushed Transgender Rights to Center Stage. Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/trump-ads-transgender-rights-harris-election-b287c9d8

Nagourney, Adam; Peters, Jeremy W. (April 17, 2023). How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/us/politics/transgender-conservative-campaign.html

Astor, Maggie (June 20, 2023). G.O.P. State Lawmakers Push a Growing Wave of Anti-Transgender Bills. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/us/politics/transgender-laws-republicans.html

Selected publications by APP

American Principles Project (2025). Transgender Accountability: Holding an Industry Responsible for Its Harms. https://americanprinciplesproject.org/research/transgender-accountability-holding-an-industry-responsible-for-its-harms/

American Principles Project (2025). Exposing Planned Parenthood: The Leading Provider of Sex-Change Procedures for Young Adults. https://americanprinciplesproject.org/research/exposing-planned-parenthood-the-leading-provider-of-sex-change-procedures-for-young-adults/

American Principles Project (2025). Defeating They/Them: How the Republican Party Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Culture War. https://americanprinciplesproject.org/research/defeating-they-them-how-the-republican-party-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-culture-war/

American Principles Project (2022). The Transgender Leviathan. https://americanprinciplesproject.org/research/the-transgender-leviathan/