The Southern Poverty Law Center’s game: Joseph Infranco of the Alliance Defending Freedom explains how it works:
“To support the claim that [Alliance Defending Freedom] is a ‘hate group’ SPLC presses a variety of arguments – too many to address in one blog. But the first few quotes attributed to ADF speakers set the tone, and deserve comment. Among these, speakers express the concern that abandoning traditional religious sexual morality will lead to silencing people of faith (one quote expresses fear of ‘silencing dissent’). SPLC apparently views such fears as proof of ‘hate.’
“But don’t miss the glaring hypocrisy here. Leading up to the Supreme Court’s marriage decision in Obergefell, people of faith were rightly concerned about what would follow. But those on the other side of the debate assured people of faith that expanding the definition of marriage would merely help everyone get along. Redefining marriage is about ‘live and let live,’ don’t you know. Nothing more will come of it; move along folks, nothing to see here.
“But many people and groups, including ADF, were not convinced. In his dissent in Obergefell, Justice Alito predicted that the decision ‘… will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy… I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers, and schools.’
“All this is profoundly ironic. The SPLC uses quotes – warning of attempts to silence dissent – to accuse someone of ‘hate’ and thereby label them a ‘hate group.’ Then SPLC uses the hate label to intimidate people into conformity, thereby silencing dissent.” [Alliance Defending Freedom]
