List of Active Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups

In 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) listed 52 active anti-LGBTQ hate groups in the U.S. As SPLC states on its website, “these groups are not listed on the basis of opposition to same-sex marriage or the belief that the Bible describes homosexual activity as sinful. Anti-LGBT groups engage in crude name-calling and disseminate disparaging propaganda and falsehoods about this population, such as the claim that gay men molest children at vastly higher rates than straight men.”

Out of the 52 active anti-LGBTQ hate groups nationally (full list available below), SPLC has extensively profiled six of the most prominent organizations peddling extreme, malicious lies about LGBTQ people. These six groups include:

1. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Location: Scottsdale, AZ

Founded: 1994

President and CEO: Michael Farris

Excerpt from SPLC’s Extremist Profile:

Founded by some 30 leaders of the Christian Right, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that specializes in supporting the recriminalization of homosexuality abroad, ending same-sex marriage, and generally making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally. Despite its regular defamation of LGBT people, the group has managed to win special advisory status at the United Nations, in the European Union, and with the Organization of American States.

2. Family Research Council (FRC)

Location: Washington, DC

Founded: 1983

President: Tony Perkins

Excerpt from SPLC’s Extremist Profile:

The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people as the organization battles against same-sex marriage, hate crime laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, the FRC employs a number of “policy experts” whose “research” has allowed the FRC to be extremely active politically in shaping public debate. Its research fellows and leaders often testify before Congress and appear in the mainstream media. It also works at the grassroots level, conducting outreach to pastors in an effort to “transform the culture.”

3. American Family Association (AFA)

Location: Tupelo, MS

Founded: 1977

President: Tim Wildmon

Excerpt from SPLC’s Extremist Profile:

Initially founded as the National Federation for Decency, the American Family Association (AFA) originally focused on what it considered indecent television programming and pornography. The AFA says it promotes “traditional moral values” in media. A large part of that work involves “combating the homosexual agenda” through various means, including publicizing companies that have pro-gay policies and organizing boycotts against them. The AFA has a variety of outlets to disseminate its message, including the American Family Radio Network, its online One News Now and the monthly AFA Journal.

4. Liberty Counsel

Location: Orlando, FL

Founded: 1989

President: Mathew (Mat) Staver

Excerpt from SPLC’s Extremist Profile:

The Liberty Counsel was founded by conservative activists Mathew (“Mat”) Staver — an attorney and former dean at Liberty University School of Law — and his wife Anita. The Counsel bills itself as a non-profit litigation, education and policy organization that provides legal counsel and pro bono assistance in cases dealing with religious liberty, “the sanctity of human life” and the family. Mat Staver chairs the Counsel; his wife Anita is the president. The Liberty Counsel shares a close affiliation with Liberty University (founded by the late Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Va.) , especially the university’s school of law. The partnership includes the Washington, D.C.-based Liberty Center for Law and Policy, which conducts legal research and writes about current legislation and policies.

5. Traditional Values Coalition

Location: Anaheim, CA and Washington, DC

Founded: 1980

President: Andrea Lafferty

Excerpt from SPLC’s Extremist Profile:

Presbyterian minister Lou Sheldon founded the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) in 1980 to spread a “moral code and behavior based upon the Old and New Testaments” and to warn Americans of the rising “gay threat.” The traditional values the TVC fights for include: the right to life (opposition to abortion and euthanasia), chastity and patriotism, along with opposition to homosexuality, pornography, the teaching of evolution in public schools and illegal immigration. Sheldon also opposes gambling, except when he doesn’t — in 2000, he helped kill the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act after the TVC received a $25,000 check from eLottery, a client of now-disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The TVC, whose president is Sheldon’s daughter, Andrea Lafferty, claims to represent over 43,000 Christian churches across the United States.

6. Westboro Baptist Church (WBC)

Location: Topeka, KS

Founded: 1955

Founder: Fred Phelps (deceased)

Excerpt from SPLC’s Extremist Profile:

Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America. The group is basically a family-based cult of personality built around its patriarch, Fred Phelps. Typified by its slogan, “God Hates Fags,” WBC is known for its harsh anti-gay beliefs and the crude signs its members carry at their frequent protests.

In addition to the above six, there are 46 other anti-LGBTQ hate groups active nationally (via SPLC):

Abiding Truth Ministries

Springfield, MA

American College
of Pediatricians

Gainesville, FL

Americans for Truth
About Homosexuality

Naperville, IL

American Vision

Powder Springs, GA

ATLAH World Missionary Church (All The Land Anointed Holy)

New York, NY

Campus Ministry USA, The

Terre Haute, IN

Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM)

Washington, DC

New York, NY

Chalcedon Foundation

Vallecito, CA

Citizens for Community Values

Cincinnati, OH

Conservative Republicans of Texas

Houston, TX

D. James Kennedy Ministries (formerly Truth in Action)

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Faith Baptist Church (formerly Sons of Thundr)

Greenville, GA

Faith2Action

North Royalton, OH

Faithful Word Baptist Church

Tempe, AZ

Family Research Institute

Colorado Springs, CO

Family Watch International

Gilbert, AZ

Generations With Vision

Elizabeth, CO

Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment (H.O.M.E.)

Downers Grove, IL

Illinois Family Institute

Carol Stream, IL

Illinois Family Institute
Tri-County chapter

Peoria, IL

Mass Resistance

Waltham, MA*

Torrance, CA

Lewiston, ME

St. Louis, MO

Yorktown, VA

Mission: America

Columbus, OH

Pacific Justice Institute

Sacramento, CA

Pass the Salt Ministries

Hebron, OH

Pilgrims Covenant Church

Monroe, WI

Pray in Jesus Name Project, The

Colorado Springs, CO

Probe Ministries

Plano, TX

Providence Road
Baptist Church

Maiden, NC

Public Advocate of
the United States

Falls Church, VA

Ruth Institute

San Marcos, CA

Save California

Sacramento, CA

Stedfast Baptist Church

Fort Worth, TX

TC Family (Traverse
City Family)

Traverse City, MI

Tom Brown Ministries

El Paso, TX

True Light Pentecost Church

Spartanburg, SC

United Families International

Gilbert, AZ

Verity Baptist Church

Sacramento, CA

Windsor Hills Baptist Church

Oklahoma City, OK

World Congress of Families/Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society

Rockford, IL

Top graphic by Sarah Wasko.