Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds will host the Family Leadership Summit on Saturday, alongside the Family Research Council (FRC), an organization recognized by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as an anti-LGBT hate group.
The Family Leadership Summit is planned by the Family Leader, an extreme conservative organization, and their President, Bob Vander Plaats. In past years the summit has been a forum for hateful rhetoric by politicians and talk radio hosts. The Family Leader is also affiliated with the FRC as their Family Policy Council for the state of Iowa.
“Governor Branstad should be ashamed to be hosting this event alongside an anti-LGBT hate group,” said Matt Sinovic, executive director of Progress Iowa. “The FRC and their hateful positions do not represent Iowa’s values, and we deserve better from our elected leaders. Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Reynolds should request that their names be removed immediately, and refuse to speak at the conference on Saturday.”
According to the SPLC, the Family Research Council’s “specialty is defaming gays and lesbians” and they do so by making “false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science” with the goal of denigrating “LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.”
Progress Iowa has provided live updates and acted as a watchdog during every past Family Leadership Summit, and will do so again on Saturday. Governor Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds are scheduled to speak at the Summit on Saturday in Ames, as are FRC President Tony Perkins, Family Leader President Bob Vander Plaats, Joni Ernst, Steve King, and other national politicians.
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Background:
Branstad-Reynolds Campaign Hosting Family Leader Summit
“Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds are teaming up with The FAMiLY LEADER as hosts for The Family Leadership Summit”
Source: http://
Family Research Council Hosting Family Leader Summit
“The FAMiLY LEADER is pleased to announce that our national partner in hosting the Summit is the Family Research Council Action based in Washington D.C.”
Source: http://
Family Research Council identified by Southern Poverty Law Center as anti-LGBT Hate Group
“The Family Research Council (FRC) bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power,” but its real specialty is defaming gays and lesbians. The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.”
Source: http://www.splcenter.org/get-
The Family Leader is Iowa’s ‘Family Policy Council’ for the Family Research Center
“Family Policy Councils (FPCs) accomplish at the state level what Family Research Council does at the national level”
Source: http://www.frc.org/state-
Bob Vander Plaats: America’s most powerful bigot? (contains quotes from past summits)
“A local radio host said, “I don’t think the mark of the beast will come in the form of a 666. I think it will be a rainbow.” Attendees were called upon to vote against pro-choice candidates even if they have to vote for “the devil himself.” Another radio host who is now teaming up with Vander Plaats for their own right-wing talk show said “there is a reason the child killers are on the side of the homosexual lobby.”
Source: http://www.salon.com/2013/08/