Last week, Peter LaBarbera interviewed Barbara Anderson of the Minnesota Family Council and Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent reports that the discussion eventually turned to the topic of the Southern Poverty Law Center having designated LaBarbera's Americans for Truth About Homosexuality as anti-gay hate group, which Anderson called "a badge of honor," prompting LaBarbera to assert that if you didn't find your group on the list, "you are not doing enough":
The Minnesota Family Council’s Barb Anderson sat down with Peter LaBarbera of Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) for a radio interview recently. The duo talked about bringing “ex-gays” into the Anoka-Hennepin School District and the fact that AFTAH is now listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a designation Anderson calls a “badge of honor.” The organization recently added 13 new groups to its hate-group map, many for anti-gay positions. The Minnesota Family Council, which opposes homosexuality, has associations with a number of groups that are now on the SPLC list.
“We are one of the rare groups that is opposed single-mindedly against the homosexual activist movement,” said LaBarbera, who founded AFTAH in 1996. “The so-called gay lobby has reached the zenith of its power. They are everywhere.”
“I don’t feel like a homophobe; as one guy said, I’m homo-nauseated,” he continued. “They are everywhere. You can’t get away from them, even in the schools, so today we are interviewing Barb Anderson of the Minnesota Family Council.”
Both LaBarbera and Anderson agreed that AFTAH’s recognition by the SPLC is a point of pride.
“There’s a lot of hatred out there in the so-called gay lobby,” LaBarbera said.
Anderson agreed: “Absolutely. They call us a hate group but the emails and the responses we get from them are just full of anger and hateful comments that they make towards us.”
“I think it’s becoming perhaps a badge of honor to be called a hate group,” said Anderson.
LaBarbera added, “If you are not on the SPLC hate list, you are not doing enough.”
“You are not doing your job,” agreed Anderson. “I think the greatest threat to our freedom and to the health and well-being of our children is from this radical homosexual agenda which is just so pervasive.”
