Ryan Anderson

Ryan T. Anderson

Former Visiting Fellow, Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., researches and writes about marriage, bioethics, religious liberty, and political philosophy.

This expert is no longer a staff member at The Heritage Foundation.

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D. was a visiting fellow in the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at The Heritage Foundation. He was previously the William E. Simon senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and the founder and editor of Public Discourse, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey.

He is the author of When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment and Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom, and he is the co-author of What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense and Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination.

Anderson’s research has been cited by two U.S. Supreme Court justices, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, in two Supreme Court cases.

He received his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, and he received his doctoral degree in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. His dissertation was titled: “Neither Liberal Nor Libertarian: A Natural Law Approach to Social Justice and Economic Rights.”

Anderson has made appearances on ABC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News. His work has been published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Harvard Health Policy Review, the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Weekly Standard, and National Review.

He is the John Paul II Teaching Fellow in Social Thought at the University of Dallas, an adjunct professor of philosophy and political science at Christendom College, a member of the James Madison Society at Princeton University, a Fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America, and a Visiting Fellow at the Veritas Center at Franciscan University.

Follow him on Twitter at @RyanTAnd and for his latest essays and videos you can follow his public Facebook page.

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Will the Supreme Court Stand Up for Reality? Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Oct 8, 2019 3 min read

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What’s at Stake in Supreme Court’s "Sex Discrimination" Case Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Oct 7, 2019 11 min read

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False Dichotomies, the Common Good, and the Future of Conservatism Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Sep 18, 2019 7 min read

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4 Years On, "Marriage Equality" Slogan Still Doesn’t Add Up Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Jun 26, 2019 5 min read

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Maryland’s End-of-Life Bill Is About One Thing: Killing Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Feb 27, 2019 3 min read

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The Left Is Shunning Liberals With Concerns About Transgender Agenda Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Jan 29, 2019 3 min read

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Proposal From Christian Leaders & LGBT Activists Not "Fairness for All" Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Dec 17, 2018 7 min read

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Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Laws Are Not Fairness for All Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.

Nov 28, 2018 14 min read