SPLC labels law firm representing Kim Davis a ‘hate group’

By: American Decency Staff

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has labeled Liberty Counsel, the law firm representing and supporting Christian Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who famously went to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a "hate group."

Pointing to evidence that Liberty Counsel supports Christian beliefs on homosexuality, SPLC placed the group on a list of "hate groups" alongside other organizations such the Ku Klux Klan, the ultra-violent New Black Panther Party, and neo-Nazi white supremacist groups.

On a page explaining the "hate" designation, the SPLC include quotes by Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver pointing to the harmful effects of homosexual behavior, and saying that homosexual behavior is immoral.

Direct mail marketing millionaire Morris Dees founded the SPLC as a civil rights organization to monitor the Ku Klux Klan and other violent and/or racist groups. 

In recent years, however, the SPLC has dramatically expanded its list of "hate groups," and particularly turned its attention on Christians and Christian organizations that support natural marriage. Critics sasy that its criteria for what constitutes a "hate group" are "entirely subjective and largely ideological." 

Liberty Counsel has also criticized the SPLC, observing "[t]hey do not distinguish between racist or violent groups and legitimate organizations that participate peacefully in the political process – tarring all with the same label. In recent years whole categories and new groups have been added, not because of actual 'hate' activities, but because they hold conservative positions on controversial political issues such as homosexuality."

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