Family Research Council calls SPLC out for hypocrisy but forgets its own PR problems

It is no secret that the Family Research Council despises the Southern Poverty Law Center.  In 2010, SPLC designated FRC as a hate group because of its long history of denigrating the LGBTQ community via lies and smears. Since that time, FRC have been steadily attempting to undermine the group. I guess FRC figures this to be easier than proving SPLC wrong.

Recently and unfortunately, SPLC had to dismiss one of its founder Morris Dees over allegations of racism and sexual misconduct.

And FRC is crowing about it:

For as much money as Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has, they could certainly do better in the crisis PR department. A week after the organization's stunning announcement that founder Morris Dees had been fired for allegations of racism and sexual misconduct, the group's only move has been setting out to prove detractors right. Instead of seizing the moment for some honest soul-searching, SPLC decided to show once again how unapologetically partisan it is. 

 . . . Like so many of us who know the real SPLC, Rich Lowry of NRO couldn't believe the group could write that with a straight face. "The missive is touching in its assumption that the SPLC still has moral authority or integrity. The scandal is, nonetheless, a remarkable comeuppance for an organization that has weaponized political correctness for its own money-grubbing."

It's rather appropriate that the one finger FRC is using to point at SPLC sends three back against it. Let's talk about scandal and PR when it comes to FRC.

In 2008, FRC spokesperson Peter Sprigg caused controversy by saying that gays should be exported out of the United States.

 

FRC issued an apology but as far as it was known, did not take any action against Sprigg.

In 2011, FRC tangled and lost with GLSEN.  GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) issued a cease-and-desist letter against the Family Research Council demanding that the organization remove video falsely accusing GLSEN of distributing an explicit safe-sex guide to children. FRC subsequently changed the video, tacitly admitting that it was pushing a falsehood against GLSEN. FRC, however, did not apologize.

And in 2017, it was discovered that FRC president Tony Perkins allegedly covered up a sexual assault regarding former Ohio state representative Wes Goodman:

According to emails and documents obtained by the Washington Post, Goodman allegedly sexually assaulted a young man in 2015. He was staying at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C. for a donor conference for his employer at the time, the Council for National Policy (CNP), a somewhat-secretive umbrella organization for prominent conservative leaders from across the country. Goodman, then 31, allegedly pressured an 18-year-old man to come party with them — chastising him by saying he “had a vagina” and making sarcastic remarks about him “being like a woman” for not wanting to tag along. Later that evening, the young man recounted, “Wes pushed me to come to his room,” offering to let him share the bed. The young man claimed that he awoke around 4 a.m. to discover Goodman pulling down his zipper. He fled the room, explaining, “I was shaken, dazed, confused and very upset.” 

These accounts are taken from a statement the young man sent at the time to Tony Perkins, who serves as president of CNP, although he’s perhaps better known as president of the Family Research Council, an anti-LGBTQ hate group. Perkins oversaw the handling of the incident after the teen’s stepfather, also a member of the CNP, complained. 

“Trust me… this will not be ignored nor swept aside,” Perkins wrote in response. “It will be dealt with swiftly, but with prudence.” 

“Prudence” apparently did not involve contacting any legal authorities or finding any justice for the victim. He did collect statements — Goodman claimed in his written statement that he’d simply woken up at 8 a.m. and the young man was gone.

Instead of answering to these charges, Perkins and FRC chose to not address them and instead allowed allies to make excuses.

And let's forget the myriad of things FRC  and Perkins have been called out for when it comes to the LGBTQ community, including

implying that the LGBTQ community recruit children

comparing us to Nazis

accusing us of being pawns of the devil

defending laws which would jail us simply for being LGBTQs

And all under the veneer of supposedly promoting Christian values.  I never knew bearing false witness was a Christian value.

It seems that the only difference between SPLC and FRC is that SPLC owns up to its faults, in this case the situation with Morris Dees, and seeks to correct them. FRC ducks responsibility when faced with its PR problems. And then has the temerity to accuse someone else of hypocrisy.