Christian Pro-Family Organizations Slam GuideStar for Tagging Them as 'Hate Groups'
Conservative and Christian groups are up in arms after they were labeled as "hate groups" by the charity database site GuideStar.
Liberty Counsel, one of the 46 pro-family groups included in the list of "hate groups," has filed a federal lawsuit against the charity, accusing it of defamation among other offenses.
Other organizations tagged as "hate groups" include the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, the Immigration Reform Law Institute, the Jewish Institute for Global Awareness and the American College of Pediatricians.
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Following the backlash, GuideStar said it will remove the warning labels it placed on the nonprofits, citing threats directed at its staff, the Associated Press reported.
Guidestar CEO, Jacob Harold, earlier told the news outlet that the company decided to add the warnings as a response to the increase of "hateful rhetoric" among Americans.
GuideStar said its "hate group" designations came from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit watchdog organization that tracks such groups, which it says includes the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and white nationalists. The "hate group" banners used on GuideStar's website linked to the law center's website, according to the Associated Press.
The SPLC lists 52 "anti-LGBT" organizations on its website, including several churches and nonprofit Christian ministries, The Washington Post reported.
Last week, the targeted groups sent a protest letter to GuideStar, saying that the "hate group" list is "nothing more than a political weapon targeting people it deems to be its political enemies."
The letter claimed that the SPLC "has been linked to gunmen who carried out two terrorist shootings" in Washington D.C., including a 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council (FRC) and the recent shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise at a baseball field in Alexandria.
In the 2012 shooting, the gunman said he targeted FRC after seeing it was listed as "anti-gay" on the SPLC website. In the Alexandria shooting, the letter stated that the gunman "liked" the SPLC's Facebook page.
Liberty Counsel founder and Chairman Mat Staver said GuideStar and its political ally, the SPLC, "are intent on destroying pro-family organizations."
GuideStar's website states it is the "world's largest source of information on nonprofit organizations." It further claims "we gather and disseminate information about every single IRS-registered nonprofit organization. We provide as much information as we can about each nonprofit's mission, legitimacy, impact, reputation, finances, programs, transparency, governance, and so much more."
However, Foreign Policy Magazine said the methodology used by the SPLC to tag hate groups "is fundamentally flawed."
Quoting other commentators, LifeNews said, "When an organization as prominent and powerful as the SPLC turns its guns on you, it can cost you your job, your livelihood – even your standing in the community. Not because you have done anything wrong. Not because what they say about you is true, but because a focused vilification campaign forces others to avoid you out of fear. You become what they call 'radioactive."
