蜜桃传媒

This morning, 22 members of Congress and a large number of other conservatives signed on to a attacking the Southern Poverty Law Center (蜜桃传媒) for listing several anti-gay religious right organizations as hate groups.聽 Published in two Washington, D.C., newspapers as a full-page ad, the statement was organized by the powerful (FRC) and other 鈥減ro-family organizations that are working to protect and promote natural marriage and the family.鈥�

The statement, whose signatories included House Speaker-Designate John Boehner and the governors of Louisiana, Minnesota and Virginia, ran under the headline, 鈥淪tart Debating/Stop Hating.鈥� It accused 鈥渆lements of the radical Left鈥� of trying to 鈥渟hut down informed discussion of policy issues鈥� and decried those who attempt to suppress debate 鈥渢hrough personal assaults that aim only to malign an opponent鈥檚 character.鈥� The 蜜桃传媒, it said, was engaging in 鈥渃haracter assassination.鈥�

It was a remarkable performance, given that it was precisely the maligning of entire groups of people 鈥� gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people 鈥� that caused the 蜜桃传媒 to list groups like the FRC. Remarkable, too, was the accusation that the 蜜桃传媒 was avoiding debate 鈥� in fact, the very first public discussion of the issues raised by the 蜜桃传媒 came in a Nov. 29 debate between the FRC鈥檚 Tony Perkins and myself on MSNBC鈥檚 鈥淗ardball With Chris Matthews.鈥�

Consider a few of the comments about gays and lesbians that have come from some of the groups now denouncing character assassination. The FRC, in a booklet entitled Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys, has claimed that 鈥渙ne of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 鈥榩rophets鈥� of a new sexual order.鈥� The 鈥檚 wrote this year that 鈥淸h]omosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and 6 million dead Jews.鈥� Matt Barber of , which was not listed by the 蜜桃传媒 but helped organize today鈥檚 newspaper ad, describes relationships between gay men as 鈥渙ne man violently cramming his penis into another man鈥檚 lower intestine and calling it 鈥榣ove.鈥欌�� Officials of several, including the FRC, have called for criminalizing gay sex.

Almost all the religious-right groups named by the 蜜桃传媒 also have engaged in a particularly toxic and widespread defamation of gay men: The that they are essentially pedophiles who molest children at far higher rates than heterosexuals.

In fact, this became the crux of my 鈥渄ebate鈥� with the FRC鈥檚 Perkins 鈥� the claim, in the very last moments of the show, that 鈥渢he research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a danger to children.鈥� To prove this, Perkins cited an outfit called the American College of Pediatricians, which certainly sounded authoritative. But he was being less than honest, to say the least. In fact, the American College of Pediatricians is a tiny group that broke away from the real professional association 鈥� the similarly named American Academy of Pediatrics 鈥� specifically because that 60,000-member organization had endorsed gay and lesbian parenting. Perkins鈥� move was enough to cause Chris Matthews to run a special segment two days later that explained the difference between the academy and the so-called college.

The reality is that virtually all real researchers in the field , as did the American Psychological Association in an official statement, that 鈥渉omosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are.鈥�

Despite the claims made in today鈥檚 statement, the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 listings are not in any way intended to suppress these groups鈥� free speech. We鈥檙e not asking that these groups be silenced or punished in any way. What we are doing is calling them out for their lies. There is nothing wrong with labeling an organization a hate group based on what they say. A simple example illustrates the point: If a neo-Nazi group said all Jews are 鈥渧ermin,鈥� no one would argue with our characterizing it as a hate group.

Neither are we mounting an attack on individuals or 鈥済roups that uphold Judeo-Christian moral views,鈥� as today鈥檚 statement suggests. In fact, as we say in our dissecting the views of these groups, 鈥淰iewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.鈥� Instead, as we explained there, 鈥渢he 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods 鈥� claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities 鈥� and repeated, groundless name-calling.鈥�

Several thoughtful Christian commentators understood that clearly. , a respected professor and past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association, put it like this the day after my debate with Perkins: 鈥淔or the most part, the reaction of defenders of the newly labeled hate groups is聽to avoid addressing the issues the 蜜桃传媒 raised, instead preferring to attack the credibility of the 蜜桃传媒. Reviewing the charges leveled against the Christian groups, I think their responses are聽mostly unfortunate and unhelpful. The 蜜桃传媒 has identified some issues which are legitimate and have damaged the credibility of the groups on the list. Going forward, I hope Christians don鈥檛 rally around these groups but rather call them to accountability.鈥� After reviewing the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 list of 鈥�10 Myths鈥� about gays and lesbians, he wrote that 鈥渕uch of what is said by Christians about homosexuality is provably false and rooted in ignorance and fear.鈥�

Another Christian website, , wrote: 鈥淟ies are evil.聽 Lies breed fear.聽鈥� If we repeat the myth enough, maybe it will gain muddy traction and stick. This is what FRC and other Hate Groups do so well. They demonize the gay community.聽鈥� If the church cannot police our own, perhaps God is using secular organizations to slap His children upside the head?聽Would not be the first time. I will stand with, beside and in front of my GLBT fellow humans to ensure that they gain equality with me. Family Research Council, you should be more concerned about where you are on God鈥檚 list of naughty or nice, sheep or goats. And Southern Poverty Law Center, I applaud you, thank you, really 鈥� thank you.鈥�

At the end of the day, it鈥檚 hard to know if the politicians and other leaders who signed today鈥檚 anti-蜜桃传媒 statement really know some of things the groups they are throwing in with support. What鈥檚 a fact is that, despite their claims, the groups have so far, without exception, failed to confront the facts of 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 report.