The Family Research Council is now screaming to anyone who will listen that they have been unfairly labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). A look at FRC’s recent direct mailings, however, reveal a dishonest and mean-spirited organization thoroughly committed to demonizing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans.
The hate group also is inciting its followers by outright fabricating alleged “threats” on religious liberty. The following is a sample of what FRC says about the LGBT community in fundraising letters, that apparently are not read by columnists like the Washington Post’s Dan Milbank who can’t understand why FRC is labeled a hate group.
February 2012
It’s a general rule that when an organization has to spell out that what it just wrote “is not a message of hate” — it’s usually a message of hate. As the SPLC has repeatedly said, FRC is designated a hate group because it grossly distorts the lives of LGBT people and the fundraising letter you just read is a vivid illustration of FRC’s willingness to dehumanize an entire class of people and twist the truth.
December 7, 2011
I’d be curious to know how people think LGBT individuals are treated by those who read — and actually believe — the hyperbolic trash pumped out by FRC. Will the people who think that LGBT people are disrespecting marriage respect my marriage to a same-sex partner? Or, will they frown upon our lives and treat us like second class citizens?
May 8, 2012
This is a prime example of fear-mongering. FRC is falsely linking LGBT equal rights to taking away the rights of Christians, when nothing could be further from the truth. This is an outright lie. No Christians are being “censored, intimidated and persecuted.” In my view, this outrageous and over-the-top distortion of reality is incendiary and even dangerous.
It is clear that Perkins’ intention is to raise money and make his follows believe that they are martyrs — which can be a dangerous game to play. The reckless and irresponsible rhetoric the flows out of FRC is a reason that it is legitimately labeled a hate group.
April 10, 2012
The Family Research Council likes to disingenuously claim that SPLC labeled it a hate group because of its views on marriage equality. But FRC makes it rather clear in this fundraising letter that “this is not just about marriage.” They actually despise LGBT people and are spreading the toxic lie that we would like to “drive” their “faith into hiding, in a dark forgotten corner of the culture.” This is outright playing to delusional individuals who harbor dark, paranoid fantasies.
January 2012
This fundraising letter is not specifically about LGBT people. However, it offers a glimpse of the uncharitable manner in which FRC views its opponents. They are not simply misguided or wrongheaded, but “forces of darkness” with the nefarious goal of destroying America.
May 2012
After a gunman tried to break into FRC’s headquarters and ended up shooting a guard — Perkins held a press conference denouncing SPLC:
“Let me be clear that Floyd Corkins was responsible for firing the shot yesterday,” said council president Tony Perkins. “But Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy.”
It seems to me that by Perkins’ linking the left and the LGBT movement to tyranny, he is guilty of what he accuses others of doing. After all, pointing the finger at groups of people and claiming that they are working to limit the freedom of Christians is potentially allowing unbalanced people to justify or rationalize unsavory actions. Given his overheated rhetoric, one could conclude that Perkins has given out more licenses than the DMV. In terms of setting a moderate tone, it appears that Perkins doesn’t exactly practice what he preaches.
May 18, 2012
The staff at the The Family Research Council truly were victims when Floyd Corkins entered their headquarters with a gun. Even hate groups have the right to be free of hate crimes. They should never have to fear for their safety and their families should leave them each day without having to worry about their well-being.
Nonetheless, it was the zenith of chutzpah, if not unseemly, for Perkins to portray his organization as victims of a liberal smear campaign. The Family Research Council’s relentlessly nasty, provocative, and untrue bromides against the LGBT community pose a threat to our health and well-being. Lost in his huff over being labled a hate group, perhaps Perkins missed this part of SPLC’s report:
SPLC analyzed hate crime statistics and compared the rate of victimization for homosexuals to that of the other groups:
The figures show that homosexuals are 2.4 times more likely to suffer a violent hate crime attack than Jews (8.3 divided by 3.5). In the same way, gays are 2.6 times more likely to be attacked than blacks; 4.4 times more likely than Muslims; 13.8 times more likely than Latinos; and 41.5 times more likely than whites, according to the FBI figures. The basic pattern holds by years as well as across the years.
The bottom line: Homosexuals are far more likely than any other minority group in the United States to be victimized by violent hate crime.
I think my family would feel much safer if The Family Research Council stopped inciting its followers with vitriolic direct mail campaigns that aim to demonize and dehumanize the LGBT community.
Other sources:
Signorile: Let’s Talk About Hate
Aravosis: Why the Family Research Council is a hate group
Chad Griffin: Calling out hate when we see it
Andy Towle: A Refresher on Tony Perkins Anti-Gay Hits
SPLC: Family Research Council Quotes
