Peter LaBarbera (born 1963) is an American social conservative activist and the president of the anti-gay organization Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH).
LaBarbera has been criticized for spreading hate speech and misinformation about homosexuality, with AFTAH being designated as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for spreading "hateful propaganda". [1] [2]
LaBarbera was a reporter for The Washington Times until 1990 and covered stories such as communism in Central America, then became a freelance reporter in Nicaragua.[ citation needed ] He then worked for Accuracy in Media and became a contributing editor at Human Events . [3]
In early August 1994, LaBarbera and another activist, Bill Horn, were invited to Shreveport, Louisiana, by pastor Billy McCormack (vice president of the Christian Coalition of America) to make a presentation on the homosexual rights agenda. Horn produced the video The Gay Agenda, and LaBarbera edited the newsletter, the Lambda Report. After LaBarbera and Horn left Shreveport, McCormack's University Baptist Church burned to the ground. Arson was suspected but authorities determined that the structure was destroyed by lightning. [4]
LaBarbera served as a senior policy analyst for the Culture and Family Institute, a conservative Christian group opposed to LGBT rights. [5] LaBarbera said that the result of Lawrence v. Texas was "like the Roe v. Wade of the homosexual issue." [5]
In 2010, LaBarbera campaigned unsuccessfully to become a state central committeeman for the Republican Party in Naperville, Illinois, where he resides. [6] [7]
LaBarbera is founder and president of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH), which describes itself as "dedicated to exposing the homosexual activist agenda". [8] It was a 501(c)(3) United States tax-exempt organization until stripped of that designation following years of failing to file the appropriate paperwork. [9] It is classified as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). [10] [11] Upon learning of the designation in December 2010, LaBarbera considered it a point of pride and stated "If you are not on the SPLC hate list, you are not doing enough." [12] LaBarbera has stated that SPLC determinations that AFTAH makes false and derogatory claims about homosexuals is inaccurate. [13]
In April 2013, he said that high incidents of "gay-on-gay violence" and higher rates of sexually transmitted infections among homosexuals were "reassuring" to his mission as it demonstrated that God saw homosexuality as an "abomination". [14]
In April 2014, LaBarbera's planned appearance in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada at a Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association convention was met with controversy from residents. A group known as Intolerance Free Weyburn started a petition urging organizers to reconsider LaBarbera's involvement, and planned a protest at the event itself, citing AFTAH's history of anti-gay rhetoric, and for being designated as a hate group by SPLC. Despite receiving similar criticism in 2013 for inviting a speaker from Courage International to the convention, the decision was defended by the organization's president Marcy Mallette, who stated that "his website is for truth, and that's not hateful at all", but also went on to say that she "welcome[d] dialogue", given that "there's nothing worse than just being silent about everything." LaBarbera himself confirmed that he would still appear at the event, characterized the protest as a "homo-Marxist attempt to shut down my speech", and indicated that he was also looking forward to meet Bill Whatcott, a fellow anti-gay and pro-life supporter that he dubbed "the most fearless truth-teller" he had ever met, at the event as well. Debra Button, mayor of Weyburn, announced that she and her city council would consider pulling the CDN$1,000 in funding it had provided for the event in response to the controversy. [15] [16]
On April 10, 2014—two days before the conference, LaBarbera was denied entry into Canada by customs officials at Regina International Airport, arguing that his appearance at the event could violate Canadian laws on hate speech and "wilful incitement of hatred". He was detained for questioning by officials regarding his stance on homosexuality, his organization's ideologies, his purposes for attending the event, and his luggage and electronic devices were also inspected by officials. LaBarbera personally blamed the campaign of Intolerance Free Weyburn for the detention. He was released following an appeal with the Canada Border Services Agency the following morning. [17] [18] [19] [20] The following Monday, LaBarbera and Bill Whatcott visited the University of Regina, where they displayed anti-abortion posters and distributed pamphlets on the "evils" of homosexuality. They were both arrested after they refused to respond to requests by officials to leave the premises; Whatcott admitted that they had defied a formal denial of permission to set up a table at the university. They were both charged with mischief, and held in custody overnight. Both LaBarbera and Whatcott were released the following day, pending a trial on May 26. They also cancelled a planned appearance at the University of Saskatchewan, with LaBarbera choosing to head home to the United States. [21] [22] [23]
The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical 501(c)(3) non-profit activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. It opposes and lobbies against access to pornography, embryonic stem-cell research, abortion, divorce, and LGBT rights—such as anti-discrimination laws, same-sex marriage, same-sex civil unions, and LGBT adoption. The FRC has been criticized by media sources and professional organizations such as the American Sociological Association for using "anti-gay pseudoscience" to falsely conflate homosexuality and pedophilia, and to falsely claim that the children of same-sex parents suffer from more mental health problems.
A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other designated sector of society. According to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a hate group's "primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons belonging to a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin which differs from that of the members of the organization."
The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative and Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. It opposes LGBT rights and expression, pornography, and abortion. It also takes a position on a variety of other public policy goals. It was founded in 1977 by Donald Wildmon as the National Federation for Decency and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.
The Family Research Institute (FRI), originally known as the Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality (ISIS), is an American socially conservative non-profit organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado which states that it has "...one overriding mission: to generate empirical research on issues that threaten the traditional family, particularly homosexuality, AIDS, sexual social policy, and drug abuse". The FRI is part of a sociopolitical movement of socially conservative Christian organizations which seek to influence the political debate in the United States. They seek "...to restore a world where marriage is upheld and honored, where children are nurtured and protected, and where homosexuality is not taught and accepted, but instead is discouraged and rejected at every level." The Boston Globe reported that the FRI's 2005 budget was less than $200,000.
Mission: America is an American Christian right organization based in Columbus, Ohio and founded in 1995 that seeks to "cover the latest cultural and social trends in our country and what they might mean for Christians." The organization publishes articles on its web site about its views on homosexuality and paganism. Mission: America's founder and president, Linda Harvey, is an outspoken critic of LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage.
Courage International, also known as Courage Apostolate and Courage for short, is an approved apostolate of the Catholic Church that counsels "men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love". Based on a treatment model for drug and alcohol addictions used in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Courage runs a peer support program aimed at helping gay people remain abstinent from same-sex sexual activity.
Malik Zulu Shabazz is an American attorney. He has previously served as Chairman of the New Black Panther Party, which is labeled as a hate group. As of 2013, he is the current National President of Black Lawyers for Justice, which he co-founded.
William Gary Whatcott, known as Bill Whatcott, is a Canadian social conservative activist who campaigns against homosexuality and abortion. The dramatic nature of his activities have attracted attention from the media, including an appearance on The Daily Show. He has also run for political office in Toronto, Saskatchewan and Edmonton.
Scott Douglas Lively is an American activist, author, and attorney, who is the president of Abiding Truth Ministries, an anti-LGBT group based in Temecula, California. He was also a cofounder of Latvia-based group Watchmen on the Walls, state director of the California branch of the American Family Association, and a spokesman for the Oregon Citizens Alliance. He unsuccessfully attempted to be elected as the governor of Massachusetts in both 2014 and 2018.
Hate speech laws in Canada include provisions in the federal Criminal Code, as well as statutory provisions relating to hate publications in three provinces and one territory.
Abiding Truth Ministries (ATM) is a United States 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Scott Lively in Temecula, California in 1997. The ministry has been based in Springfield, Massachusetts, since 2008. Lively, an American author, attorney and activist, is noted for his opposition to LGBT rights and his involvement in the ex-gay movement. Lively has called for the criminalization of "the public advocacy of homosexuality" as far back as 2007. Along with Kevin E. Abrams, Lively co-authored the 1995 book The Pink Swastika, which states in the preface that "homosexuals [are] the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities." He is also directly linked to pending anti-gay legislation in Uganda, which would, if passed, make homosexual conduct punishable by a lengthy prison sentence or death. The Southern Poverty Law Center regards Abiding Truth Ministries as a hate group.
Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) is an organization which describes its mission as "exposing the homosexual activist agenda". AFTAH rejects the idea that sexual orientation is innate and believes that people can "leave the homosexual lifestyle". AFTAH contends that there is a fundamental conflict between gay rights and religious freedom. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designated it as an anti-LGBT hate group.
The Illinois Family Institute (IFI) is a Christian organization based in Tinley Park, Illinois. Founded in 1990, its stated mission is "upholding and re-affirming marriage, family, life and liberty in Illinois", and it is affiliated with the American Family Association. The organization's legislative arm is the 501(c)(4) lobbying group Illinois Family Action, founded in 2010. The organization's executive director is David E. Smith, who in 2006, succeeded Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality.
Parents Action League (PAL) is a citizens organization started in 2010 to oppose changes in the Anoka-Hennepin (Minnesota) School District 11 policy which limited discussions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues in district classrooms. PAL's roots go back as far as 1994, when one of its most-vocal members, Barb Anderson, successfully influenced the school district's board to exclude homosexuality from its sex-ed curriculum.
Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment (HOME) is an American pro-heterosexuality, anti-homosexuality organization founded by Wayne Lela and based in Downers Grove, Illinois. The organization's aim is "to use science, logic, and natural law to expose all the flaws in the arguments homosexuals use to try to justify homosexual activity". The organization has been designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center "based on their propagation of known falsehoods".
Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission v Whatcott is a Canadian constitutional law case concerning the constitutionality of the hate speech provision in Saskatchewan's human rights legislation.
Gens Douglas Hellquist was a Canadian activist and publisher, noted for his prominent role in founding and developing the organized LGBT community in the province of Saskatchewan.
Faithful Word Baptist Church is a New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church in Tempe, Arizona, that was founded by Steven Anderson. The church describes itself as "an old-fashioned, independent, fundamental, King James Bible-only, soul-winning Baptist church." Members of the church meet in an office space that is located inside a strip mall. Anderson established the church in December 2005 and remains its pastor.
Queer City Cinema is an annual film festival in Regina, Saskatchewan, which presents a program of LGBTQ film. Established in 1996 by Gary Varro, the festival was presented every two years at first before becoming an annual event. In recent years, the main festival has been presented concurrently with Performatorium, a festival of LGBTQ performance art.
Earlier this year, AFTAH was labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for spreading hateful propaganda, and claiming that homosexuality can be cured.
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