Sessions attacks SPLC; SPLC fights back (have you heard this one before?)

A very small man, but noisy

Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed a meeting of the hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) on Wednesday. The ADF has long advanced debunked theories attacking the LGBTQ community and has advocated for policies depriving gay Americans of their rights.  In his speech, Sessions attacked the Southern Poverty Law Center for their efforts to expose the ADF as a hate group. On Thursday, the SPLC published a report on the meeting, and defended their anti-hate methods and tactics.

In a letter to supporters on Thursday, SPLC President Richard Cohen wrote

Yesterday, Sessions spoke to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a group that vilifies the LGBT community and promotes discrimination against it in the name of religion. . .

In his speech, Sessions attacked us for calling the ADF what it is – a hate group that would like to push the LGBT community into the closet if not into jail. . .

After he made similar comments last week, we explained in a letter to the attorney general that we identify hate groups in a manner analogous to how the Justice Department defines hate crimes.

This is remarkable - Sessions, the head of the Justice Dept., is attacking the SPLC for applying the same standards to define hate groups that the Justice Dept uses to define hate crimes.

I will be so relieved when this national nightmare finally ends.