Christian conservative Mat Staver has
lashed out at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for labeling
Liberty Counsel, a group he founded, as a “hate group.”
The SPLC designated Liberty Counsel a
“hate group” over its opposition to LGBT rights.
“With the expansion of equal rights
for LGBT people, especially, the Liberty Counsel has come into their
own, working to attempt to ensure that Christians can continue to
engage in anti-LGBT discrimination in places of business under the
guise of 'religious liberty,'” the group wrote. “Through
lawsuits and its annual Awakening conference in Orlando, the Counsel
attempts to enforce the idea that Christian beliefs and law trump all
other law.”
Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit against
GuideStar, a charity information website, after it began including
the designation on its listings. A judge dismissed the case last
month.
GuideStar, Staver complained, had gone
from “a neutral entity” to a left-wing “political activist
organization.” He compared the addition of the SPLC's “hate
group” designation to its listings to the Nazis requiring Jews to
wear a yellow Star of David.
“Because of his liberal political
activism, he decided to partner with the SPLC and slap these labels
on [organizations],” Staver
said, referring to GuideStar President Jacob Harold. “You have
to ask yourself, why did he do it? Why was he trying to do it? What
was his motivation? It’s very clear what his motivation was. His
motivation in terms of what he said, what they did, how they did it
is to harm these nonprofits, to put, essentially, if you will, a Star
of David on them like the Nazis did to the Jews. Wanted to isolate
them, identify them, and ultimately economically boycott them.”