Attorney General Jeff Sessions on
Wednesday defended the Christian conservative group Alliance
Defending Freedom (ADF), saying that it was not a “hate group.”
Founded in 1994 and based in
Scottsdale, Arizona, ADF was labeled a “hate group” by the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
ADF backed Jack Phillips, the Colorado
baker who refused to make a cake for a gay couple's wedding
reception. In June, the group prevailed at the Supreme Court. The
court chided the Colorado Civil Right Commission, saying that it had
shown hostility toward Phillips' religious beliefs.
(Related: Supreme
Court narrowly sides with Baker who refused gay couple.)
Sessions was criticized last year for
speaking to the group behind closed doors. Wednesday's speech,
however, was streamed live on ADF's Facebook page.
“When I spoke to ADF last year, I
learned that the Southern Poverty Law Center had classified ADF as a
hate group,” Sessions said. “They have used this designation as
a weapon and they have wielded it against conservative organizations
that refuse to accept their orthodoxy.”
“You and I may not agree on
everything, but I wanted to come back here tonight partially because
I wanted to say this: You are not a hate group,” Session told the
group.
On its website, the SPLC claims that
ADF “has supported the recriminalization of homosexuality in the
U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned
sterilization of trans people abroad; has linked homosexuality to
pedophilia and claims that a 'homosexual agenda' will destroy
Christianity and society. ADF also works to develop 'religious
liberty' legislation and case law that will allow the denial of goods
and services to LGBT people on the basis of religion.”
The SPLC defended its labeling of ADF
as a “hate group.”
“Just as sincerely held religious
beliefs would not be a defense to a hate crime prosecution, vilifying
others in the name of religion should not immunize a group from being
designated as a hate group, in our view," SPLC President Richard
Cohen said in a statement. "And it's ironic to suggest that the
rights of ADF sympathizers are under attack when the ADF is doing
everything in its power to deny the equal protection of the laws to
the LGBT community."
Earlier this month, the Department of
Justice announced the creation of a “religious liberty” task
force, which Sessions said was needed to protect religious groups
from a “dangerous” movement that is “challenging and eroding
our great tradition of religious freedom.”
(Related: Jeff
Sessions announces “religious freedom” task force.)