11th Circuit Upholds Megachurch Hate Group Designation

I have followed right wing "Christian" organizations that disseminate lies and untruths against LGBT individuals for close to thirty (30) years. The groups have as their goal opposing civil rights for LGBT individuals and to fostering anti-LGBT hatred and discrimination.  The most heinous of these groups have been designated as hate groups by the The Southern Poverty Law Center (“SPLC”) which monitors the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists – including the Ku Klux Klan, the neo-Nazi movement, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, antigovernment militias, racist/anti-Semitic Christian Identity groups and virulent anti-LGBT organizations.  SPLC defines a hate group as an organization that, based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities, has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics. The organizations on the SPLC’s hate group list vilify others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity (The FBI uses similar criteria in its definition of a hate crime).  Among the hate groups SPLC has given the hate group designation is Fort Lauderdale-based Coral Ridge Ministries Media (also known as D. James Kennedy Ministries) which for decades has deliberately disseminated shockingly false claims about the LGBTQ community based on discredited research and junk science.  

Fortunately, the hate group designation has restricted Coral Ridge's ability to utilize fundraising platforms such as the AmazonSmile Foundation.  As a result, Coral Ridge sued Amazon, the AmazonSmile Foundation and the SPLC. A three judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (all three judges are Republican appointees) upheld the dismissal of Coral Ridge suit and by extension upheld the hate group designation.  Courthouse News Service looks at the ruling:

The 11th Circuit on Wednesday struck down a Florida evangelical Christian ministry’s claim that it was discriminated against and defamed after the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled it a hate group, causing Amazon to deny its application to fundraise through the online retailing giant’s charitable website.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court upheld an Alabama federal judge's September 2019 decision to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Fort Lauderdale-based Coral Ridge Ministries Media (also known as D. James Kennedy Ministries) against Amazon, the AmazonSmile Foundation and the SPLC.

In a 15-page opinion, the panel found that Coral Ridge’s defamation claim against the Alabama-based SPLC fails because it did not show that the organization “acted with actual malice” when it listed the ministry on its “hate map" as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

“Coral Ridge did not sufficiently plead facts that give rise to a reasonable inference that SPLC ‘actually entertained serious doubts as to the veracity' of its hate group definition and that definition’s application to Coral Ridge, or that SPLC was ‘highly aware’ that the definition and its application was ‘probably false’,” U.S. Circuit Judge Charles Wilson, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote on behalf of the panel.

The SPLC’s designation of Coral Ridge as a hate group led Amazon to deny the ministry's application to fundraise as a charitable organization through AmazonSmile.

The AmazonSmile program gives eligible charities 0.5% of a customer’s purchase price if the customer shops on smile.amazon.com and picks the charity as a recipient. Eligible charity organizations must be registered and in good standing with the IRS as a nonprofit. They also cannot engage in or support violence, illegal activities or intolerance.

Coral Ridge admitted in its lawsuit that it opposes same-sex marriage and the "homosexual agenda" based on its religious beliefs.

The panel also ruled Wednesday that Coral Ridge’s religious discrimination claim under Title II of the Civil Rights Act was a non-starter.

Title II ensures equal access to services and public accommodations — including hotels, restaurants and places of entertainment — and prohibits discrimination or segregation on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin.

But Coral Ridge's interpretation of Title II runs up against Amazon's First Amendment rights, the panel found.

Amazon is engaging in expressive conduct under the First Amendment when it decides which charities to support, the ruling stated.  Coral Ridge’s reading of the law would therefore violate the retailer's rights by “essentially forcing Amazon to donate to organizations it does not support."

Wilson was joined on the panel by U.S. Circuit Judge Britt Grant, a Donald Trump appointee, and Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Gerald Tjoflat, a Gerald Ford appointee.