Family Research Council
The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values.[2] It opposes and lobbies against: access to pornography, embryonic stem-cell research, abortion, divorce, and LGBT rights—such as anti-discrimination laws, same-sex marriage, same-sex civil unions, and LGBT adoption.[3] The FRC has been criticized by media sources and professional organizations such as the American Sociological Association for using "anti-gay pseudoscience" to falsely conflate homosexuality and pedophilia, and to falsely claim that the children of same-sex parents suffer from more mental health problems.[4][5][6]
Not to be confused with Family Research Institute.Founded
1983
52-1792772 (EIN)
- 801 G St NW, Washington, D.C.
United States
- Tony Perkins, President
- Thomas R. Anderson, Chairman
85
FRC was formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson and incorporated in 1983.[7] In the late 1980s, FRC officially became a division of Dobson's main organization, Focus on the Family; however, after an administrative separation, FRC became an independent entity in 1992. Tony Perkins is its current president. FRC is affiliated with a lobbying PAC known as FRC Action, of which Josh Duggar was the executive director from 2013 until 2015.[8][9][10]
The FRC is active outside of the United States; in 2010, FRC paid $25,000 to congressional lobbyists for what they described as "Res.1064 Ugandan Resolution Pro-homosexual promotion" in a lobbying disclosure report. Uganda would go on to pass the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill, a bill which would have imposed either the death penalty or life imprisonment for sexual relations between persons of the same sex. On 1 August 2014, however, the Constitutional Court of Uganda ruled the act invalid on procedural grounds.[11][12][13][14]
In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center classified FRC as an anti-LGBT hate group due to what it says are the group's "false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science" in an effort to block LGBT civil rights.[15][16] In 2012, the FRC's headquarters were attacked by a gunman, resulting in an injury to a security guard, in connection with this designation.[17]
Controversies and criticism[edit]
2010 listing as a hate group by SPLC[edit]
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designated FRC as a hate group in the winter 2010 issue of its magazine, Intelligence Report. Aside from statements made earlier in the year by Sprigg and Perkins (see Statements on homosexuality), the SPLC described FRC as a "font of anti-gay propaganda throughout its history".[99][100]
As evidence, the SPLC cited a 1999 publication by FRC, Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys, which stated: "one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 'prophets' of a new sexual order."[100][101] The report said FRC senior research fellows Tim Dailey and Peter Sprigg (2001) had "pushed false accusations linking gay men to pedophilia".[100][85]
FRC President Tony Perkins called the "hate" designation a political attack on FRC by a "liberal organization".[102] On December 15, 2010, FRC ran an open letter as an advertisement in two Washington, D.C., newspapers disputing the SPLC's action; in a press release, FRC called the allegation "intolerance pure and simple" and said it was dedicated to upholding "Judeo-Christian moral views, including marriage as the union of a man and a woman".[103] In response, SPLC spokesman Mark Potok emphasized the factual evidence upon which the SPLC had taken the step of making the designation.[104]
A shooting incident in the lobby of FRC headquarters in 2012 (see above) prompted further comments on the SPLC's 'hate group' listing. Dana Milbank, columnist for The Washington Post, referred to the incident as "a madman's act" for which the SPLC should not be blamed, but called its classification of FRC as a hate group "reckless" and said that "it's absurd to put the group, as the law center does, in the same category as Aryan Nations, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Stormfront and the Westboro Baptist Church."[105][106] David Sessions, writing for the Daily Beast, noted that FRC's hostile, false depiction of LGBT people invited strong pushback; "the FRC cannot wage an all-out rhetorical war against the 'gay agenda' and then accuse its critics of being too harsh."[5]
Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry described himself as "not comfortable" with the designation: "There's probably some things that have been said by one or two individuals that qualify as hate speech. But overall, it's not seen as a hate group."[107] Journalist Adam Serwer of Mother Jones argued that the description, while subjective, was justified by the "FRC's record of purveying stereotypes, prejudice, and junk science as a justification for public policy that would deny gays and lesbians equal rights and criminalize their conduct."[70]
Tax status[edit]
In 2020, the FRC asked the IRS to consider it as an “association of churches,” and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) approved that status change. As part of this request, the FRC had to claim that it conducts weddings, baptisms and funerals. The FRC continues to be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, but as a church, it is shielded from public inspection as it no longer must submit an annual Form 990 to the IRS.[108]
George Alan Rekers[edit]
George Rekers was a founding board member in 1983. In May 2010, Rekers employed a male prostitute as a travel companion for a two-week vacation in Europe.[109][110] Rekers denied any inappropriate conduct and suggestions that he was gay. The male escort told CNN he had given Rekers "sexual massages" while traveling together in Europe.[111][112] Rekers subsequently resigned from the board of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH).[113]
Josh Duggar[edit]
On June 18, 2013, it was announced that Josh Duggar of the television show 19 Kids and Counting would serve as the executive director of FRC Action, the non-profit and tax-exempt legislative action arm of Family Research Council.[25] FRC President Tony Perkins said at the time that the hiring was aimed to tap into the popularity of Duggar's television show, and that "The big part of Josh's focus is going to be building our grass-roots across the country."[9] Published reports listed Duggar as a lobbyist for the group.[114]
Duggar resigned on May 21, 2015, when a scandal involving his past molestation of five underage girls – including some of his sisters – became public knowledge. In reference to Duggar's resignation, Perkins said "Josh believes that the situation will make it difficult for him to be effective in his current work."[115][116][117]