BREAKING: MassResistance Denounces NBC News for Labeling Downey, CA Parents a "Hate Group"

10.10.19

Downey, CA---

On behalf of the concerned, outraged, and disappointed parents and general citizenry of the city of Downey and throughout Los Angeles County, MassResistance has issued a stern condemnation of NBC Universal, particularly their Los Angeles NBC 4 affiliate for their false, smearing, and libelous slander.

Downey Sex Ed Program Draws Criticism From Alleged Anti-Gay Hate Group

According to their recent report on MassResistance's efforts to stop the "Teen Talk" sex-ed program in Downey Unified School District (DUSD), NBC refers to mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, small business owners and concerned citizens as "a hate group."

Key statements from the report include the following:

"We have learned outrage over this program may be coming from outside of the community."

That is a total lie. Concerned parents like Sandi Padilla of Downey and others contacted our SoCal MassResistance coordinator, Shanda Lobatos, a mother and licensed professional who has worked with at-risk populations. They contacted us; we did not inspire outrage on our own.

"We've learned the opposition is being organized by a group out of the state. They have been listed as an anti-gay hate group since 2008 by the Southern Poverty Law Center."

Local parents and neighbors worked with MassResistance leaders in California to organize attendance at the Downey School Board meeting. Many pro-family groups, as well as interest groups for other causes, do this. It's part of the American fabric, in which citizens exercise their First Amendment rights to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

As for the Southern Poverty Law Center, that any serious news organization would cite their unsubstantiated smears borders on libel, if not outright criminal conduct.

1. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has a long a history of maligning minority groups, including Jewish Zionists as well as reformist Muslims. In one case, the SPLC was forced to pay a $3.8 million settlement to Maajid Nawaz for smearing him as an anti-Muslim extremist.

2. The SPLC is currently facing six lawsuits from diverse organizations, including a Washington DC-based think-tank headed by an Armenian-American, for libel. Not a good track record.

Bob Moser Exposed the SPLC.
Why does NBC Still rely on them?

3. Former SPLC employees like Bob Moser (himself liberal and openly gay) have exposed the fact that the SPLC does not fight hate, as much as fundraise off of calling conservatives groups whom they disagree with "hate groups." Political debate and disagreement is essential to the American political fabric. For anyone to silence or delegitimize dissent is nothing short of hateful in itself.

4. The SPLC has a long history of libeling pro-family groups of all stripes as hate groups simply because the SPLC does not support protecting natural marriage, life, and family. The fact that the growing number of young voters and groups in the United States have signaled opposition to the anti-family LGBT agenda (per Harris polling) clearly indicated that the SPLC's metrics are out of step with history, as well as morality and biology.

That NBC News would take the unsubstantiated report from a known hate group to smear mothers and fathers, many of Hispanic descent and many others who are immigrants who live the American Dream, is nothing short of despicable.

NBC Thinks that Downey Parents are a "hate group". Seriously.

Furthermore, the NBC reported refused to provide copies or context to demonstrate that the sex-ed curriculum approved by the Downey School Board was full of inappropriate, explicit, and even medically inaccurate information. The dossier was provided to the main reporting team that covered the event in the morning as well as the afternoon, and yet nothing was provided to the general public. For more information on the "Teen Talk" sex-ed curriculum, click here.

"If anyone wants to understand why the mainstream, legacy, corporate media is losing views and marketshare, perverse reporting like NBC 4's attack on Downey parents is proof. The SPLC has long been discredited as unsavory hate group, and now for NBC 4 to extend that smear to Downey parents is just abominable," said Arthur Schaper, Organization Director for MassResistance. "Parents have the right to protect their children from destructive, false propaganda under the guise of sex education. That is not hate in the slightest.

"MassResistance boasts a wide community of activists from all ethnic backgrounds throughout the United States as well as different nations. Our founder, Brian Camenker, is an Orthodox Jew who actually suffered discrimination during his youth in Duluth, Minnesota. Our activist members include Orthodox Jews in New York, in New Jersey, and different faith groups in the United Kingdom, as well. For anyone to call our growing community of pro-family fighters a "hate groups" demonstrates a stunning lack of knowledge or a malicious contempt for the truth."

MassResistance is calling on NBC 4 and NBC Universal to issue a full retraction of their report and publish a full apology.

For more information, please contact:

Arthur Schaper, Organization Director

Phone: (781) 890-6001

Email: arthur@massresistance.org