D. James Kennedy Photo: YouTube screenshot A federal court rejected a Florida megachurch’s defamation and religious discrimination lawsuit over how the SPLC labeled them a hate group for their anti-LGBTQ statements. In 2017 , Coral Ridge Ministries Media in Fort Lauderdale, Florida filed a lawsuit against the SPLC after they appeared on the organization’s hate map as a hate group. SPLC says that Coral Ridge doesn’t just oppose LGBTQ rights – which Coral Ridge admitted in court – but that the megachurch portrayed LGBTQ people “as perverted and a threat to the nation.” Related: Ft. Lauderdale’s out mayor will honor an anti-LGBTQ hate group because it’s time to “let go” Coral Ridge said that SPLC defamed them because they aren’t really a hate group since they don’t commit acts of violence, even though the SPLC and other civil rights organizations don’t use the term “hate group” to only refer to violent organizations. The church also sued Amazon because the AmazonSmile Foundation denied their application to raise funds on their platform due to their status as a hate group. They also claimed that the organizations violated the Civil Rights Act’s ban on religion-based discrimination, saying that their anti-LGBTQ beliefs are […]
