SPLC Statement on Shooting at Family Research Council

We’ve seen news of the shooting of a security guard today at the Family Research Council office in Washington, D.C., and are getting media inquiries about it. There are unconfirmed reports that the shooting was ideologically motivated. We condemn all acts of violence and are following the story closely.

Several ugly comments (including one that might be a liberal!), but this one actually has a point:

Gay people are subjected to violence near weekly, perpetrated by people who probably have at least as good connection to the FRC as this guy does the SPLC. This whole thing is very unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean you can’t call a hate group a hate group. The FRC is dedicated demonizing and dehumanizing a whole group of Americans. They want them all imprisoned, oppose any basic rights, constantly enable and then belittle mistreatment and even violence against them (even lobbied for it abroad), etc. If the FRC is not a hate group, I question how the category could exist.

The FRC is a group actively campaigns to take away rights from people who disagree with it. The groups criticizing the FRC are trying to prevent this from happened…and they aren’t, in the process, arguing to take away the basic rights of the FRC’s following. That’s what makes the former a hate group and the latter not.