Representatives Steve King of Iowa and
Michele Bachmann of Minnesota are among the lawmakers siding with
anti-gay groups.
The Republicans have joined an online
petition protesting the claims of the Southern Poverty Law Center
(SPLC).
The SPLC recently added the Family
Research Council (FRC), the American Family Association (AFA) and the
National Organization for Marriage (NOM) to the same list of hate
groups as the Ku Klux Klan, the Nation of Islam and the Aryan Nations
for their opposition to gay rights.
“We, the undersigned, stand in
solidarity with Family Research Council, American Family Association,
Concerned Women of America, National Organization for Marriage,
Liberty Counsel and other pro-family organizations that are working
to protect and promote natural marriage and family,” the
open letter, sponsored by the FRC, reads. “We support the
vigorous but responsible exercise of the First Amendment rights of
free speech and religious liberty that are the birthright of all
Americans.”
The SPLC has “targeted FRC and other
organizations that uphold Judeo-Christian moral views, including
marriage as the union of a man a woman.”
Booth Gunter, a spokesman for the SPLC,
on Friday rejected the allegations.
“The bottom line is it's simply not
true that we attacked them because of their Judeo-Christian beliefs
or their opposition to gay marriage,” Gunter told Fox News. “It's
because of their continued propagation of falsehoods about gay men
and lesbians that have the effect of demonizing them.”
Also signing onto the letter are
Majority Leader-elect Eric Cantor, House Speaker-elect John Boehner,
presidential hopefuls Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee,
Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio and Louie
Gohmert of Texas, and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.