The Southern Poverty Law Center, creators of the infamous hate group list we wrote about a little bit ago, announced recently that they sorted through religious and antigay groups and found that some qualified as “hate groups,” specifically because they spread false and homophobic information and incited violence. This also goes hand-in-hand with my girlfight with Carolyn about the Westboro Baptist Church, in which I linked hate speech and violence.
According to the SPLC’s most recent issue of Intelligence Report, their magazine, gays are the number one targeted minority this hate season. I understand that this probably gives you feelings. The good news is, this kind of environment can be remedied with articulate arguments about gay rights, a balanced breakfast, and Autostraddle.com. It also means it is about time to add gay-hating groups to the SPLC list, duh.
Now, this news is probably not revolutionary or even surprising to any of you straddlers. But it turns out that the Family Research Council is upset that they’ve been classified as a “hate group” by SPLC, and they were so upset they made a PSA about it that you can find on Youtube. You can also find it by googling “hating gays doesn’t make us a hate group,”which explains a lot about the FRC already. Regardless of how you feel about all of these things combined, here is the video:
Also, if it makes you feel better, the FRC’s video is also on a website called onkneesforjesus.blogspot.com.
So what is a “hate group,” anyway? And does hating gay people really mean you’re a “HATE GROUP?!” And who cares about gay people, anyway? Where are my keys I LOST MY PHONE.
These are just a few of the questions that remain after this little controversy. So just what does a group of well-funded and religiously motivated people have to do to be a “hate group,” anyway? Does hating gay people mean you’re a hate group, or some other nebulous category that combines being a group and hating things?
The SPLC has been counting hate groups for a while, and they found that this a record year for hate. (Apparently it’s the choice party theme this year instead of Mad Men or ugly sweaters, everyone is doing it.) But remember: this doesn’t necessarily mean that things are getting worse for us, it means we’re finally starting to scare the shit out of people like the Family Research Council. And that’s a really good sign.
