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| Conservative site PJMedia tried to refute the notion that the Family Research Council (top) and the Alliance Defending Freedom (bottom) are hate groups. It failed. |
On Wednesday, conservative publication PJMedia attempted to prove that SPLC's claims about the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom being hate groups were false.
That was the intention. By publishing a one-sided, very shoddy article, Tyler O'Neil, the publication's senior editor, probably sought to give the groups ammunition and cover. What happened was that he inadvertently opened up a huge hole in the two groups' claims and credibility
And naturally, I had to stroll in with a few facts he conveniently sought to omit.
O'Neil's piece, 5 Reasons the SPLC Is Profoundly Wrong About Two Notorious Christian 'Hate Groups,' was the second in two weeks by conservatives trying to paint SPLC as a dangerous group out to smear Christian organizations. The first, by ADF employee Jessica Prol Smith, took a personal, but highly evasive view of the situation.
Unlike Smith's piece, O'Neil's article sought to address and refute the specific reasons why SPLC considers these organizations as hate groups. Whereas Smith was evasive, O'Neil sought to be direct. In taking this route, O'Neil committed several errors of distortions and omission.
Let's look at a few sections of his article:
The SPLC's accusation against FRC breaks down into two issues: FRC demonizes LGBT people and FRC suggests homosexuals are pedophiles. So, does this Christian organization demonize LGBT people?
In the pamphlet "How to Respond to the LGBT Movement," FRC's senior fellow for policy studies, Peter Sprigg, lays out his organization's position on these issues. That pamphlet opens by emphasizing that "every person, no matter who they are sexually attracted to, is created in the image and likeness of God" and therefore is "equal in value and dignity and must be treated with respect." Sprigg goes on to explain that FRC does not believe that sexual attraction defines a person, so the idea that homosexual activity is sinful does not involve a degradation of dignity.
"The key reason why FRC believes that homosexual conduct is harmful to the people who engage in it is the high rate of physical health problems which are a direct or indirect result of their sexual conduct," Sprigg told PJ Media on Monday. "This is particularly true of men who have sex with men (MSM), who have dramatically higher rates of HIV and syphilis, as well as high rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HPV. High rates of the latter cause MSM to have rates of anal cancer 17 times higher than among heterosexual men, according to the CDC."
Physical health risks for lesbians are less extreme, but may include Bacterial vaginosis, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and Breast and other cancers, he argued, citing Web MD.
"Those who engage in homosexual conduct have also been shown to have higher risks of mental illness and substance abuse. Although LGBT activists blame 'discrimination' and 'stigma' for these problems, that theory is undermined by the fact that these problems have persisted at high rates even in countries that are very accepting of homosexuality, such as the Netherlands.," Sprigg added.
"Many of these conditions put others (such as sexual partners) at risk; and governments have spent billions of dollars in prevention, treatment, and the search for cures for these diseases. This is why we believe the cost of these behaviors is also being borne by society at large," he concluded.
LGBT activists are free to vehemently disagree with these claims, but FRC does not spread them in order to demonize LGBT people.
This entire section is a careful mischaracterization of LGBTQ health. Sprigg's statement - Although LGBT activists blame 'discrimination' and 'stigma' for these problems is blatant cherry-picking.
The claim about how discrimination and stigma leads to negative health problems in the LGBTQ community is not an idea conjured up by activists as Sprigg implies. It is a fact which has been voiced by legitimate medical professionals on numerous occasions. As a matter of fact, they are the same medical professionals cited in O'Neil's article. The article linked to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) when giving a listing of the diseases affecting gay men. This is what the CDC also said about stigma, homophobia can lead to these diseases in gay men:
Homophobia, stigma (negative and usually unfair beliefs), and discrimination (unfairly treating a person or group of people) against gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men still exist in the United States and can negatively affect the health and well-being of this community.
