SPLC: Trump Joins Hate Groups in DC This Weekend

 The following statement was submitted by the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

Some of the most prominent leaders of anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim hate groups are gathering in Washington tomorrow for the annual "Values Voter Summit."

Their keynote speaker will be none other than President Trump.

This isn't the first time we've written about the Summit, hosted by the Family Research Council (FRC) and its president, Tony Perkins.

But it's the first time that far-right extremists like Perkins – a man who relentlessly demonizes LGBT people – have been so fully embraced by a U.S. president. Perkins, in fact, says he's never enjoyed so much access to the White House.

It's not surprising that Trump is attending. His xenophobic rhetoric has emboldened a wide swath of extremists – including the white supremacists we saw marching in Charlottesville – and brought them closer into the mainstream.

In fact, some of Trump's policies – like the Muslim ban and the ban on transgender people in the military – represent the fondest dreams of groups like the FRC.

Trump's former chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, is also a major headliner. He's the head of Breitbart News who has boasted of using the website as "the platform for the alt-right" – which, as we know, is simply a rebranded white supremacist movement.

The Muslim-bashing conspiracy theorists Frank Gaffney and Brigitte Gabriel will also be speaking.

Help us fight this hate and bigotry by spreading information about the true "values" represented at the Summit.

Visit our webpage about the event and use the social share buttons to help educate your friends and families.

Bigotry is not an American value.