Opinion: The Reaction: SPLC adds the Family Research Council to its list of hate groups
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In Wednesday’s op-ed column, Hate under the cloak of religion, Tim Rutten gives kudos to the Southern Poverty Law Center for adding the Family Research Council to its list of hate groups. Why? FRC’s anti-gay rhetoric. “Now,” he writes, “the two groups are locked in a sharp confrontation that raises crucial questions about where the expression of religiously based views on social issues ends and hate speech begins.” Rutten argues:
Such rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of that with which religiously affiliated opponents of African American equality once defended segregation. It wasn’t all that long ago that some of them argued against school integration because, they alleged, black adolescents were uniquely unable to control sexual impulses and, therefore, would assault white schoolgirls. Exhortations against ‘race mixing’ were commonplace pulpit messages short decades ago, though we now recognize them as hate speech. It’s past time to do the same with rhetoric that denigrates gays and lesbians.
While some readers agree, many do not. A sampling from our discussion board:
-- Alexandra Le Tellier
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