Kerby Anderson

One place where donors often go to check out a charity is GuideStar. Although it has been described as a “neutral” aggregator of tax data on charities, its latest actions call that designation into question. It originally placed “hate group” labels on certain groups so designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Southern Poverty Law Center at one time was respected for their work. But it has chosen to label many Christian and other conservative groups as hate groups merely because they hold to traditional family values and are critical of the LGBT agenda. Some of the groups include the Family Research Council and the American Family Association. But it also includes such groups as the American College of Pediatricians and the American Freedom Defense Initiative.

The leaders of these groups that have been so designated wrote to GuideStar President Jacob Harold to complain about the new policy to label 46 American organizations as “hate groups.” It is worth mentioning that Jacob Harold is hardly neutral when it comes to evaluating charitable organizations. He has worked as a “climate change campaigner” for Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace, USA. He has been a host for a NARAL Pro-Choice event and has blogged for the Huffington Post.

The “hate group” designation not only will affect donations to these organizations, but it could also be dangerous for these organizations. The Southern Poverty Law Center hate group designation for the Family Research Council is the reason Floyd Corkins walked into their lobby intent on killing as many people as he could. A guard took a bullet as he attempted to prevent the possible massacre of the Family Research Council employees.

GuideStar announced that is will temporarily remove the hate group designation from these groups. I hope it doesn’t return.