Liberty Counsel, an Orlando anti-gay organization, has made a list of hate groups released by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
A legacy of Jerry Fallwell, Liberty Counsel was founded in 1989 by Mathew Staver who is the director of the Liberty Center for Law and Policy at Liberty University. They’re best known for campaigns to make sure religion is displayed publicly during Christmas, but they have also focused heavily anti-gay activism.
The organization’s director of cultural affairs, J. Matt Barber, has argued that there is medical evidence that homosexuality is dangerous and that it should be a crime to teach children that homosexuality is normal. Liberty Counsel has fought against the legalization of same-sex marriage and argues against hate crimes classifications. They also run a campaign to protect so-called ex-gays, who claim to have changed from gay to straight and also that they face discrimination by intolerant gay people.
Two other Florida-based groups also made the list of 19 hate groups. Coral Ridge Ministries is based out of Fort Lauderdale and has claimed that gay people should be executed. They evangelize that gay people are pedophiles and that gay people should not be allowed to serve openly in the military. Dove World Outreach Center is based out of Gainesville. They target gays and Muslims and in September, made headlines for threatening to burn Korans to protest Islam. Dove World’s leaders also targeted gay Gainesville city commissioner Craig Lowe during his recent campaign for mayor.
