Montgomery, AL – A coalition of African-American pastors and pro-family Christian and Jewish leaders is holding a press conference at noon, January 17 (the day after Martin Luther King Day) outside the headquarters of the Southern Poverty Law Center — to protest the SPLC's smearing of pro-family groupsthat oppose homosexual activism as "hate groups":
WHERE: Outside the SPLC headquarters, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, Alabama
WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, noon, Central Standard (Montgomery, AL) Time
WHO: Scheduled speakers:
- Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), Chicago, IL (the SPLC has smeared AFTAH as a "hate group");
- Dr. Patrick Wooden, pastor, Upper Room Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Raleigh, NC;
- DL Foster, founder, Gay Christian Movement Watch, Atlanta, GA;
- Matt Barber, Vice President, Liberty Counsel Action, Lynchburg, VA;
- Tim Johnson, Fredrick Douglass Foundation, Washington, D.C.;
- Rachel Conner, representing Abiding Truth Ministries (smeared by SPLC as a "hate group")
- Pastor Glen Sawyer, New Mt. Zion Church of God in Christ, Elizabeth City, NC
- Pastor Wil Nichols, Victorious Praise Fellowship COGIC, Durham, NC
- Pastor Jon Robinson, Kingdom C.O.M.E. Ministries, Clairton, PA
- Pastor Kenneth Jefferson, Greater Harvest COGIC
The following pro-family leaders and groups will issue supporting statements:
- Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Rabbinical Alliance of America;
- Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute (smeared as "hate group")
- Arthur Goldberg, author, "Light in the Closet: Torah, Homosexuality, and the Power to Change";
- Linda Harvey, Mission America, Columbus, OH
- Brian Camenker, Mass Resistance, (smeared as "hate group")
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth, which is sponsoring the press event, recently interviewed African-American Pastor, Dr. Patrick Wooden, who said that the SPLC's gambit of labeling mainstream pro-family groups that oppose homosexual activism as "hate groups" is seriously damaging the SPLC's credibility. Wooden also debunked the "civil rights" analogy used by "gay" activists, saying it is wrong to compare "my beautiful blackness" with homosexual perversion.
Matt Barber, Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action said: "In the past few years the SPLC has inexplicably chosen to lay on the line any credibility it once had as a serious civil rights advocacy group to, instead, push a left-wing extremist political agenda.
"The SPLC has moved from monitoring actual hate groups like the KKK and Neo Nazis to slandering mainstream Christian organizations with that very same 'hate group' label. By extension, the SPLC is smearing billions of Christians and Jews worldwide as 'haters,' simply because they embrace the traditional Judeo-Christian sexual ethic.
"It's a shame that an organization which once supported the noble vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would, today, engage in anti-Christian bigotry of a kind MLK would have, no doubt, detested. What's most troubling is that there are actually law enforcement agencies around the country that still use the SPLC's 'hate group' resources. I encourage all law enforcement to discard the SPLC as it has discarded any semblance of objectivity and usefulness. Today's SPLC is simply a well-funded MoveOn.org," concluded Barber.
Contact: Peter LaBarbera: Americans For Truth, 630-546-4439; americansfortruth@gmail.com
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