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Family Research Council Fights SPLC Over Hate Group Designation
FRC's 'Start Debating/Stop Hating' ad Last week, the FRC sponsored a full-page ad headlined "Start Debating / Stop Hating" that was placed in in the print editions of Politico and the Washington Examiner, and signed onto by 150 or so conservative leaders, including 22 members of Congress. The apparent purpose of the ad was for conservative leaders to show their solidarity with the FRC, start up another FRC-sponsored website (http://StartDebatingStopHating.com/), and raise a little more money for the FRC, and perhaps get situated for some type of congressional action against the SPLC. The ad (http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF10L12.pdf) reads: "The surest sign one is losing a debate is to resort to character assassination. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal fundraising machine whose tactics have been condemned by observers across the political spectrum, is doing just that. "The group, which was once known for combating racial bigotry, is now attacking several groups that uphold Judeo-Christian moral views, including marriage as the union of a man and a woman. "How does the SPLC attack? By labeling its opponents "hate groups." No discussion. No consideration of the issues. No engagement. No debate! "These types of slanderous tactics have been used against voters who signed petitions and voted for marriage amendments in all thirty states that have considered them, as well as against the millions of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement. "Some on the Left have even impugned the Manhattan Declaration - which upholds the sanctity of life, the value of traditional marriage and the fundamental right of religious freedom - as an anti-gay document and have forced its removal from general communications networks. "This is intolerance pure and simple. Elements of the radical Left are trying to shut down informed discussion of policy issues that are being considered by Congress, legislatures, and the courts. "Tell the radical Left it is time to stop spreading hateful rhetoric attacking individuals and organizations merely for expressing ideas with which they disagree. Our debates can and must remain civil - but they must never be suppressed through personal assaults that aim only to malign an opponent's character." Watergate felon Chuck Colson wrote a column called "Playing the hate card," which claimed that because the SPLC was including the American Family Association and Family Research Council amongst its designated hate groups, its own credibility was at stake. The AFA's Bryon Fischer wrote a piece for renewamerica.com titled "Southern Poverty Law Center belongs on its own 'hate group' list." The more sober-minded Christianity Today headlined its story about the event "Republican Leaders Join FRC Protest of 'Hate Group' Designation," and pointed out that the FRC ad was signed on to by not only a host of the usual Religious Right leaders, but also by some very prominent leaders of the republican Party, including House Speaker to be John Boehner, House Majority Leader-elect Eric Cantor, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina. SPLC answers FRC However, unlike groups like ACORN, which had a much smaller following and little in the way of financial resources or political capital, the SPLC will not be easily smacked down. Responding to the ad, the SPLC's Mark Potok called it a "remarkable performance, given that it was precisely the maligning of entire groups of people - gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people - that caused the SPLC to list groups like the FRC" (http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/12/15/splc-responds-to-attack- by-frc-conservative-republicans/). Potok pointed out that it was equally "remarkable" that the organization would be accused of "avoiding debate," since "the very first public discussion of the issues raised by the SPLC came in a Nov. 29 debate between the FRC's Tony Perkins and myself on MSNBC's 'Hardball With Chris Matthews.'" Potok also noted that it seemed topsy-turvy for groups that have consistently attacked gays and lesbians, to be "now denouncing character assassination." He pointed out that, "The FRC, in a booklet entitled Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys, has claimed that 'one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 'prophets' of a new sexual order.'" In an earlier story headlined "18 Anti-Gay Groups and their Propaganda" (http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse- all-issues/2010/winter/the-hard-liners), published in the Winter 2010 issue of the SPLC's Intelligence Report, Evelyn Schlatter pointed out that while some Religious Right groups have moderated "their views, a hard core of smaller groups, most of them religiously motivated, have continued to pump out demonizing propaganda aimed at homosexuals and other sexual minorities. " The piece profiled 18 groups, 13 of which will be listed "next year as hate groups": "Generally, the SPLC's listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods - claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities - and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups." The groups listed include (those with an asterisk are designated hate groups):
Scott Lively's *Abiding Truth Ministries; Potok concluded his response by stating: "At the end of the day, it's hard to know if the politicians and other leaders who signed today's anti-SPLC statement really know some of things the groups they are throwing in with support. What's a fact is that, despite their claims, the groups have so far, without exception, failed to confront the facts of SPLC's report."
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