Do words have consequences?
For years, we at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have argued that they do. When conspiracy-minded Islamophobes claim that Muslims have a secret plan to force America into a medieval-style caliphate, Muslims in the streets get hurt. When angry nativists assert that Mexicans are plotting to "reconquer" the Southwest, some Americans respond by attacking Latinos.
And when the religious right spreads false and defamatory propaganda like the completely baseless notion that gay men molest children at rates far higher than their heterosexual counterparts, LGBT people end up, much more frequently than most people realize, at the wrong end of a baseball bat.
For the last three weeks, the SPLC has been under attack by a number of groups that fit into that last category. After an apparently politically motivated man wounded a guard at the Family Resource Council (FRC) in Washington, these groups launched a coordinated assault on the SPLC, accusing it of responsibility in the attack because it had earlier named the FRC a "hate group."
At a well-attended press conference the day after the Aug. 15 shooting, FRC President Tony Perkins said that the alleged attacker, Floyd Corkins, "was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center." He added, "I believe the Southern Poverty Law should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology."
A day later, Islam-basher and Obama-hater Jerry Boykin, Perkin's recently hired deputy at FRC, took his boss' rhetoric a few steps further. The SPLC, Boykin said, is an "anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, Marxist organization" staffed by "an evil group of people" who are "dangerous."
The idea seemed to be that the SPLC was hypocritical -- that after years of suggesting that organizations that demonize minority groups are ultimately contributing to violence against those groups, the SPLC had been caught doing exactly what it criticized in others. We had "recklessly" labeled the FRC as a hate group merely, as Perkins told Fox News, "because we defend the family and stand for traditional, orthodox Christianity."
Did Perkins have a point? Was the SPLC's criticism morally or functionally equivalent to the conduct we criticized, admittedly in harsh terms, coming from the FRC and like groups?
I think not. The SPLC's listing of the FRC and several of its allies as hate groups was not based on its opposition to same-sex marriage or its belief that the Bible describes homosexual sex as a sin, as Perkins claims. As we said clearly when we began listing them in 2010, and have repeated on countless occasions since, we were calling out these groups "based on their propagation of known falsehoods -- claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities -- and repeated, groundless name-calling."
What kinds of falsehoods? Demonizing lies like the claim that gay men routinely molest children -- that pedophilia, as Perkins once said, "is a homosexual problem." And lest the FRC claim otherwise, this is no one-time claim; the group has made this assertion repeatedly, in slightly different forms, for years. It once even claimed that gay activists seek "to normalize sex with children" and "to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 'prophets' of a new sexual order."
The oft-repeated pedophilia charge is utterly bogus. "Despite a common myth, homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are," says the American Psychological Association, one of many scientific groups to point this out. Elsewhere, the APA adds, "There is no scientific support for fears about children of lesbian or gay parents being sexually abused by their parents or their parents' gay, lesbian or bisexual friends or acquaintances."
And what kinds of name-calling? The FRC regularly portrays LGBT people as sick, evil, perverted, and a danger to the nation. It talks about their "dark, perverse" ways and their "sordid sex lives." It attacks their "transient, promiscuous and unfaithful relationships," and insists that gay people are "fundamentally incapable" of providing good homes for children -- a claim flatly contradicted by virtually all relevant scientific authorities. Gay rights activists, Perkins said in 2011, are "intolerant," "hateful" and "vile," and are pursuing an "agenda" that "will destroy them and our nation." An FRC official has said he wanted to "export homosexuals from the United States." That same official, speaking on national television in 2010, advocated the criminalizing of gay sex.
Do these kinds of words have consequences?
The SPLC recently analyzed 14 years of national hate crime data. We found that gay people were twice as likely to be attacked in a violent hate crime as black or Jewish people; more than four times as likely as Muslims; and even more likely than that compared to Latinos or whites. While it's impossible to prove that the violence is related to any particular verbal attack, it seems obvious that public demonization of a discrete minority does help to legitimize the attacks.
Words do have consequences. But is the FRC's propaganda and schoolyard name-calling really the same thing as the SPLC listing the FRC as a hate group? Is suggesting that gay men are child molesters -- one of the worst things you can say about a human being today -- really the same as making a fact-based criticism of a particular group?
The answer seems obvious. Pointing out the lies and slander of the FRC and some of its friends in the interest of attempting to bring some measure of civility to our political dialogue is not remotely the same as promulgating those lies. The idea that the activities of the FRC are equivalent to those of the SPLC is simply more propaganda from an organization that specializes in propaganda.
Nice guy Perkins wanted to teach ethics in the public school system, too...his brand, mind you. He's an ugly man and so is his minion. He's at the heart of inciting hateful behaviors and the first to sqwak if he's targeted for all of his hateful speech. Now, he's pointing the finger at the SPLC? Really? A group dedicated to helping all people get a fair shake? That's who he's after now?
Did it occur to Perkins that the hate speech his group spews might have something to do with what happened to them and not the SPLC? Did it occur to him to take personal responsibility for the consequences of his actions? He might wish to consider that before he goes off hyterically pointing fingers and crying "wolf."
Nooooo...
/sarc
You will notice, they will make vague attacks without any cites, make all encompassing statements, or paing the FRC as the victim of anti-Christians.
These are people sent here to disrupt the conversation with phony posts. Good thing they are so obvious to pick out.
The FRC has supported the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda, they have continually put out false information from phony studies that they know is false attacking gays. They do all this yet the media treats them as if they are merely an oposing viewpoint.
They supported politicians in Uganda who supported a bill killing gays. These people aren't an "Opposing Opinion" they are a hate group.
It's a shame that the media has become so afraid of a simple declarative statement. Civil rights may never have happened for women or minorities if this media had existed back then.
Not exactly breaking news.
Except to fundamentalist Christians the American Psychological Association's research and conclusion that the FRC and other fundamentalist Christian groups lie all the time "isn't in the Bible."
Fundamentalist Christians don't run around trying to limit the equal rights of those who covet or disrespect their parents or work on the Sabbath or bear false witness against their neighbor, so none of this anti glbt organizing is about what the Bible (supposedly) says. It's about prejudice served up with a convenient fundamentalist "justification."
If they were not anti-American, they would support the 1st and 14th Amendment rights of ALL Americans, including gay Americans. If they were not anti-Christian, they would understand Matthew 22:39 (‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’), and would at least try to follow that commandment. If they were not anti-Semitic, they would recognize the rights of non-Christians. If they were not Marxist, they would not worship Jesus, who was clearly a communist. Being an evil group of dangerous people, is clearly a matter of opinion, but their repeated calls for invidious discrimination and even violence against gay people, seems to support that opinion.
I find it interesting, that the hateful people who call themselves "Christian", always seem to accuse other of exactly the things that they themselves are actually doing.
Not you in particular... that's just the easiest way to make the statement.
It's time the HuffPo assigned a reporter, to report on the SPLC, an organization that has become so used to making it's founder wealthy (Does Mr Dees still park his Rolls Royce in the reserved pace for him at SPLC, Mr Potok?) by the discovery that labeling every organization or person it disagrees with(or even more tellingly that La Raza disagrees with..) as a "hate group" , and watching the money role in as good hearted people contribute, because they think think this 200 million dollar Organization actually needs the money!