Anti-gay hate groups would like you to stop calling them anti-gay hate groups
Homophobic hate groups are demanding the media stop referring to them as homophobic hate groups.
A string of fundamentalist and ‘alt-right’ groups are this week attempting to challenge extremism watchdog the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The SPLC has monitored the rise of white nationalist, neo-Nazis and anti-LGBT hate groups across the US, reporting on the activities of groups including the KKK and white supremacist National Alliance.
But in a letter this week, a number of groups that work to spread hatred about LGBT people have demanded that the media stop using the SPLC’s definition of a ‘hate group’.
Groups that spread anti-LGBT propaganda including the Family Research Council, Liberty Counsel and American Family Association have signed the letter, which claims the SPLC “is a discredited, left-wing, political activist organization that seeks to silence its political opponents with a ‘hate group’ label of its own invention”.
In the letter, the groups demand that the media “cease using the SPLC’s data and its various lists and maps in your reporting”.
It insists: “To associate public interest law firms and think tanks with neo-Nazis and the KKK is unconscionable, and represents the height of irresponsible journalism.
“All reputable news organizations should immediately stop using the SPLC’s descriptions of individuals and organizations based on its obvious political prejudices endangers the lives of those targeted with it.”
PinkNews will continue to refer to anti-LGBT hate groups as anti-LGBT hate groups.
In case you’re in any doubt, here is some of our reporting on the hate groups who are signatories of the letter.
Liberty Counsel
Liberty Counsel, an anti-LGBT hate group, has a history of spreading anti-LGBT propaganda and extremism.
Its head Mat Staver recently falsely claimed that first responders at last year’s Pulse nightclub shooting had to “get tested for AIDS-related conditions” because of the blood of gay victims – while LC President Anita Staver claims she takes a gun to the toilet in case there are any transgender women in there.
The Liberty Counsel rose to national prominence after providing free legal representation to embattled Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, when she refused to carry out her duties because of same-sex marriage.
The group has more recently been secretly helping Republican lawmakers draft anti-LGBT legislation in a number of states, leading to a wave of anti-LGBT ‘conscience’ bills and ‘bathroom laws’ that exploit transgender issues as an excuse to strip back anti-discrimination protections.
The US-based group has also been caught meddling in other countries, attempting to push anti-LGBT laws around the world.
Family Research Council
The Family Research Council, an anti-LGBT hate group, is run by Tony Perkins.
Perkins, an extreme evangelical fundamentalist, has called for the US government to be ‘purged’ of gay people and LGBT allies.
The group has a history of spreading disturbing anti-LGBT propaganda and comparing gay people to Nazis.
Perkins has made a number of extremely disturbing claims about gay people in the past, insisting Christians are “going to find ourselves being loaded in cattle cars like it was when the Nazis took over before we realize we are in such terrible danger”.
He claims that Christians are being sent to “camps”, and that soon gays are “going to start rolling out the boxcars to start hauling off Christians”.
He has also compared gays to paedophiles, saying: “While activists like to claim that paedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. It is a homosexual problem.”
Ahead of the Supreme Court court ruling in favour of equal marriage, Perkins threatened a “revolution” in the United States over the issue.
American Family Association
The AFA, an anti-LGBT hate group, has a strong influence among fundamentalists, spreading anti-LGBT propaganda through its media arm and American Family Radio.
PinkNews reported last year that the AFA was giving out ‘cartoons’ to children that support ‘gay cure’ therapy and tell them to reject gay people.
Bryan Fischer, an American Family Radio figurehead and the silent hand behind the AFA, has used his radio show to spread extreme anti-LGBT smears, including repeated claims that gay men caused the Holocaust.
Fischer insisted earlier this year that homosexuals are ‘literally’ Nazi stormtroopers.
He said earlier this year: “The real Brownshirts are in the homosexual movement. In fact, the Brownshirts under Hitler literally were homosexuals. You couldn’t become an officer without being a homosexual.
“The gay Gestapo have the same kind of tactics, the same kind of worldview, the same kind of mentality [as Nazis].”
The AFA pretended to sack Fischer in 2015 for comparing gays to Nazis after senior Republican lawmakers considered cutting ties to the AFA.
While he was stripped of a symbolic title, incredibly Mr Fischer was never actually dismissed from his show and is still employed by the AFA – and still claiming the Nazis were run by homosexuals.
Commenting on the Boy Scouts of America’s decision to allow gay youth members, Fischer said that the organisation should be renamed the “Boy Sodomisers of America”.
