FRC President Tony Perkins America's Family Research Council is demanding an apology after a prominent civil rights law firm classified it as a hate group due to its anti-gay stance. The Southern Poverty Law Center prominently placed the conservative Christian organisation among 18 "hate groups" it says have "continued to pump out demonising propaganda aimed at homosexuals and other sexual minorities." The SPLC says the council's president Tony Perkins is a key critic of anti-bullying programs, criticising his claim that gay activists are exploiting recent suicides to push their agenda. "The leaders of this movement may deny it, but it seems clear that their deionisation of homosexuals plays a role in fomenting the violence, hatred and bullying we're seeing," he says. It also says the FRC's research fellows Tim Dailey and Peter Sprigg have circulated false accusations linking gay men to pedophilia. It further mentions Sprigg's comment in 2008 when asked about uniting gay partners during the immigration process: "I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them," a remark he later apologised for. The council will now be added to more than 900 hate groups the SPLC counts in the US, alongside the likes of the Aryan Nations and Nation of Islam. The FRC claims it's a deliberately timed smear campaign and is demanding an apology.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 26th November 2010 - 8:16pm