Stunning GOP Silence on FRC Hate Group Designation

The Republican Party has long prostituted itself to far right religious extremist groups like Focus on the Family, Concerned Women [Bitches] for America, the American Family Association and, of course white supremacist led Family Research Council ("FRC"). With the recent designation of FRC as a registered hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center ("SPLC"), one would think that there would have been comments of some sort from talking heads of the GOP - either distancing the GOP from FRC or defending it. However, so far, other than a comment sent to Jeremy Hooper from FOTF aligning itself with FRC, the silence has been deafening. How this will play out as time goes by will be interesting and hopefully toxic for Republicans who continue to play shameless whores to FRC and its hate merchants. Talking Points Memo looks at the lay of the land and speculates as to how members of the GOP may have to reconsider how closely they want to embrace the liars and bigots at FRC and AFA - including whether they will opt to not attend the disingenuously named Value Voters Summit hosted by FRC. Here are some highlights:
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The Family Research Council is perhaps the most prominent voice in conservative social politics and the hosts of an annual rite of passage for many Republicans who hope to run for president. And now, FRC is on the same Southern Poverty Law Center list of hate groups as the Ku Klux Klan.
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Labeling the Family Research Council a hate group puts one of Washington's most powerful social issues advocates into the company of groups like the Nation of Islam and the now mostly defunct Aryan Nations in the eyes of the SPLC, which tracks 932 active hate groups in the U.S.

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Groups are labeled hate groups by the SPLC -- which made a name for itself by using civil lawsuits to severely weaken the KKK and other white supremacist groups -- when they "have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics," according to the group's website.
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The Family Research Council did not respond to TPM's repeated requests for comment on the SPLC designation. SPLC Research Director Heidi Beirich told me the FRC is part of a growing list of what the SPLC calls anti-gay groups masking themselves under the guise of conservatism or Christianity. "What this really is is a wholesale defamation attack on gays and lesbians," Beirich said. "Some of the stuff is just as crude if you compare it to, say, the Klan's racism.
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The SPLC designation of the Family Research Council as an anti-gay hate group potentially poses more of a challenge for Republicans. Though many conservatives view the SPLC as a progressive group and therefore no more worthy of respect than, say, ACORN, the SPLC hate group label will almost undoubtedly make it into press reports about future events like the Values Voter Summit.
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As Beirich told me, there is no difference between the FRC and the KKK in the eyes of the SPLC now. . . . I asked her if a Republican choosing to address the FRC convention next year would be making the same choice as one who addressed an Aryan Nation rally. "Yeah," she told me. "What we're saying is these [anti-gay] groups perpetrate hate -- just like those [racist] organizations do."