Oh, the irony of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) interim president and CEO having the name “Fair.”
During a June 9, 2026 barnburner of a House Judiciary Hearing, the SPLC’s Bryan Fair was on the receiving end of blistering questioning on the dubious actions of the ethically impoverished organization he runs. The hearing followed the Justice Department’s indictment filed in April alleging that the SPLC paid millions of dollars to hate groups to keep hate alive.
Jim Jordan asked the following questions which emerged from the DOJ’s indictment and provide a succinct overview of how the SPLC operates:
- Did the Southern Poverty Law Center use donor dollars to have field sources host extremist rallies throughout the country?
- Did the Southern Private Law Center use donor dollars to have field sources grow existing chapters of extremist groups?
- Did the Southern Private Law Center use donor money to have field sources create new chapters of extremist groups?
- Did the Southern Poverty Law Center use donor money to have field sources make donations to extremist group leaders and purchase materials for cross burnings?
- Did Southern Private Law Center use donor dollars to have field sources create racist paraphernalia that extremist groups sold at rallies?
- Did you pay the field sources directly or did you pay them through an [shell companies]?
- Did fundraising go up after you paid a field source to coordinate the transportation at an event in Charlottesville where a person was killed, … because according to what we know, you [the SPLC] went from 51 million to 133 million in one year?
Mr. Fair, an attorney and law professor, largely evaded answering questions directly by asserting either that the SPLC denies allegations or that questions will be answered in court.
Rep. Chip Roy asked about the inclusion of the Family Research Council on the hate map. Fair responded that “The Family Research Council remains on the hate map because it meets the criteria that we use … The Family Research Council is anti-LGBTQ.”
A minute later, Rep. Roy asked about the curious omission of any Muslim organizations from the densely populated hate map which includes 1500 groups:
How many extremist Islamic groups do you have of the 1500 or so organizations you have on your hate map? My office has been looking … and we can’t really find one.
Fair responded with umbrage, a straight face, and growing nose,
Mr. Roy, we don’t target any group because of its religion. I want to be clear about that. We target no group because of its religion. We target groups because they express statements and engage in activities that demean and vilify.
That is some tricksy rhetoric there. One wonders what Mr. Fair believes the source of Family Research Council’s views on “LGBTQ” matters is? Could it be … the Bible?
Rep. Roy asked a logical follow-up question that exposed the deceit of the SPLC:
You brought up LGBT groups a minute ago. So, you think there’s a bunch of Islamic groups that are pro-LGBTQ? Is that the position of the SPLC?
In addition to homosexuality and crossdressing, Christian organizations condemn polyamory, adultery, fornication, envy, covetousness, deceit, gossip, idolatry, theft, drunkenness, extortion, sorcery, fits of anger, lying, and filthy talk because the Bible proclaims those behaviors sinful and commands Christians “to expose the unfruitful works of darkness.” I’m spitballing here, but I suspect that polyamorists, adulterers, fornicators, coveters, gossips, idolaters, thieves, drunks, extortionists, sorcerers, liars, hotheads, and pottymouths feel demeaned and vilified by such religiously based condemnation.
Moreover, criticism of behavior is not per se demeaning or hateful. Affirming immoral behavior as good is, in truth, demeaning. If parents teach their naturally selfish children that selfishness is neither good nor worthy of celebration, those parents are loving their children, not demeaning them. They are elevating truth and teaching their children that self-denial is a necessary part of living a good and decent life.
Fair may have assumed that he had the SPLC’s hate map criteria all wrapped up with a sparkly bow when he stated to Rep. Roy that TPUSA is included on the hate map because the organization “vilifies other people based on immutable characteristics.”
That’s right, the SPLC has narrowed its censorship of criticism to “immutable” characteristics. And apparently, the SPLC decides which characteristics are immutable.
But there’s the rub. Anyone who commits any of the sins listed above can claim their feelings or predispositions are immutable characteristics that emerged at young ages, are impervious to change, and are an integral part of their “authentic” identities. Will criticism of all those diverse predispositions land organizations on the SPLC’s hate map, or will the SPLC decide which immutable characteristics are acceptable to condemn?
Christians believe all humans are born with sin natures. Neither the seeming intractability of nor fondness for impulses renders the sinful behavior impelled by them intrinsically moral.
During his time to query Fair, Rep. Lance Gooden stated, “I’d actually ask for you to add me to your hate map. I’d be honored to be on it. It sounds like I’d be in great company.”
True confession: The SPLC has written about me ten times, beginning in 2009. The SPLC hates me because I have publicly expressed my Christian beliefs that homoerotic acts are immoral, that crossdressing and cross-sex impersonation are immoral, that marriage has a nature central to which is sexual complementarity, and that the social and political movements to normalize sexual perversion are destructive to individual lives, families, and the culture at large.
Consequently, I know and have written a bit about the SPLC’s vaunted criteria, including that they were socially constructed by the SPLC years after the SPLC socially constructed its hate map.
While the SPLC and its well-paid leaders have the right to socially construct whatever ignorant criteria their darkened imaginations can invent—a point Mr. Fair repeatedly made—that doesn’t make their criteria right, good, or just.
And when their criteria target religious beliefs, as they clearly do, then no arm of the government—not the CIA, FBI, Congress, the military, police departments, or government schools—should subsidize or use its resources.
Rep. Harriet Hageman, also an attorney, used her time to outline the SPLC grift that has not merely wasted donors money to enrich a few but has served as a force for evil, fomenting division and hatred that were on the wane:
[T]he Southern Poverty Law Center’s business model … needs to convince people that there exist certain types of discrimination and hatred in the United States and that it alone has the expertise to identify, target, and eradicate. A lack of such discrimination and hatred would render the SPLC’s existence obsolete. …
So, what is a business to do when its very existence is threatened by a dramatic decrease in the scourge that it exists to combat? What happens when racism, for example, is largely a thing of the past?
The brain trust at SPLC came up with their own unique solution to this conundrum. They decided to fund the very hatred that they claim to be fighting against. And like magic, the money has continued to roll in. In fact, advancing hatred has become quite profitable for the SPLC as in 2024, the organization had over $829 million in assets, an endowment of approximately $738 million, and $129 million in revenue. The bulk of this money comes from the contributions of the SPLC’s donors, contributions that the donors thought were made to “confront hate, stand up to injustice, and defend our civil and human rights.” But that isn’t the case at all. Instead of confronting hate, standing up for justice, or defending civil and human rights, the SPLC has been funding the exact opposite with the added bonus of then using their donations to target right-leaning organizations.
Yep, that’s the SPLC in a nutshell.