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01/12/2007
AFT's direct object more fallacious than originally thought?
So regular readers know that we quite frequently talk about Peter LaBarbera's so-called Americans For Truth group. We find their logic reliably unsound, their position on gays quite indecent, and their overall modus operandi a bit unhinged. However, we never would have suspected that they may have gone to the fallacious lengths to which they are now being accused.
Here now, the scoop from activist Kevin Kaatz:
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality A Gay Rights Organization???
I see on a couple of websites that Americans for Truth is attacking a 16 year old for writing about the truth that sits behind the Americans for Truth. Well, I've just done a bit of background checking about this group and found out some interesting things.
I didn't realize that the actual name for Americans for Truth is Americans for Truth about Homosexuality. I suppose that is what AFTAH stands for, but why don't they put their full title in their website? I think when this group is mentioned the full legal title should be used. What also really made me angry is that when I looked this organization up in GuideStar (a source of information about non-profit organizations), their 'National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities,' code is R26--Lesbian/Gay Rights. These NTEE codes are used to help people search for non-profit organizations. And get this--this code of R26 is used for "R20 Civil Rights, Advocacy for Specific Groups"! So Americans for Truth about Homosexuality claim to be a civil rights group for lesbians and gays!
The section for R26 is reserved for: "Organizations that support the passage and enforcement of laws and other social measures that protect and promote the rights and interests of individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered."
***Update--I've received emails from both Guidestar and Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. A Guidestar service representative said "The codes are selected by either the organizations themselves or by the IRS." The CNP thanked me for bringing it to their attention, but no response as to what they can/might do about changing that code. I'll try digging around in the IRS website to see who I might email about this. As far as I can tell, the IRS attaches these codes. But as it stands, the Americans For Truth About Homosexuality is listed, as a non-profit organization, along side the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as a group that defends gay and lesbian rights.
SCANDALOUS!
So is AFT deliberately misrepresenting themselves, or was this just an error in classification? We'll wait for AFT to respond to the matter -- then we'll dig further to get the actual story.
Stay tuned...
Americans for Truth About Homosexuality a Gay Rights Organization??? [Tiny Queer Footballs]
**UPDATE: AFT's head "truther," Peter LaBarbera, has responded to our inquiry into the matter with this statement:
"It's a mistake, obviously. We had nothing to do with it, and don't know how it happened. --pl"
