Gatehouse Media, which owns the Florida-based News Chief, The Walton Sun and The Destin Log, published a defamatory article on Tuesday that includes Liberty Counsel in a list of active “hate groups” in Florida. The article, “Florida ranks 2nd highest in US in hate groups,” is attributed to the Associated Press, but Gatehouse Media added additional defamatory information about Liberty Counsel not in the original AP article and uses the discredited Southern Poverty Center Law Center (SPLC), a reckless organization that falsely labels nonviolent people and organizations as “haters” or “hate groups,” as a source.  Liberty Counsel has sent a demand letter to Gatehouse.

The article states, “According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are currently 63 active hate groups in Florida, behind California’s 79. The SPLC’s report features a map detailing more than 900 hate groups actively operating across the country. None are listed for the Volusia-Flagler area. There are six in the Orlando region, according to the SPLC: ACT For America (anti-Muslim), Legal Immigrants for America (anti-immigrant), Insight USA (general hate), All Eyes on Egypt Bookstore (black separatist), Liberty Counsel (anti-LGBT) and Vanguard America (white nationalist).” 

This Gatehouse Media article is not only defamatory but dangerous, especially after the recent Charlottesville tragedy. The article includes a picture of a recent white supremacy rally in Charlottesville along with the following: “James Alex Fields, the man charged with second-degree murder after driving into a crowd of anti-protesters at the Charlottesville, Virginia white nationalist event Unite the Right Saturday, was seen with the Vanguard America group at the rally. Vanguard America has since issued a statement claiming Fields was not an official member.”

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