The Family Research Council (FRC) is a conservative or right-wing Christian group and lobbying organization formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson. It was fully incorporated in 1983.[1] In the late 1980s, FRC officially became a division of Dobson's main organization, Focus on the Family, but after an administrative separation, FRC officially became an independent entity in 1992. The function of FRC is to promote what it considers to be traditional family values, by advocating and lobbying for socially conservative policies. It advocates against LGBT rights, abortion, divorce, embryonic stem-cell research, the theory that global warming is the result of human activity, and pornography. The FRC is affiliated with a 501(c)(4) lobbying PAC known as FRC Action.[2] Tony Perkins is the current president of FRC. The organization has been involved in the politics of social policy, notably in controversy concerning its position on homosexuality.
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The Family Research Council was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1983. Dr. James Dobson, Armand Nicholi, Jr. of Harvard University, and George Rekers of the University of South Carolina were some of its founding board members.[1] In 1988, following financial difficulties, the FRC was incorporated into Focus on the Family, and Gary Bauer joined the organization as president.[3] The FRC remained under the Focus on the Family umbrella until 1992,[3] when it separated out of concern for Focus' tax-exempt status.[4] Tony Perkins joined the FRC as its president in 2003.[5]
The Family Research Council supports the wide availability of a vaccine for human papilloma virus (HPV, a virus that causes cervical cancer), though it opposes an effort to make this mandatory for school attendance. Its position is that it would infringe upon rights of parents to make medical decisions for their children, without a sufficient public health justification, as HPV is not transmitted through casual contact.[6]
It supports a federal conscience clause protecting the right of medical workers to withhold from certain practices, such as abortion or dispensation of contraception, that it finds morally objectionable. It also support an increase in pro-abstinence sex education, intelligent design as an alternative to evolution (and the ID movement's "Teach the Controversy" campaign), tighter regulation of pornography (especially internet pornography), and "obscene, indecent, or profane programing" on broadcast and cable television. It is actively opposed the introduction of a .xxx domain name on the grounds that it would legitimize pornography, and lobbied for an increase in indecency fines from the Federal Communications Commission. It also believes that hotel pornography may be prosecuted.[7]
The Family Research Council also supports the preclusion of all legislative, executive, or judicial action at any level of state or local government designed to protect the status of persons based on their "homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships,"[8][9] in addition to lower taxes[10] and simplifying the tax code, increasing the child tax credit, permanently eliminating the marriage penalty and estate taxes, school prayer,[11] and the requirement of a one-year waiting period before a married couple with children can legally get a divorce so that they can receive marital counseling, unless the marriage involves domestic violence.[12]
The Family Research Council opposes legalized abortion, stem-cell research which involves the destruction of human embryos and funding thereof (instead advocating research using adult stem cells), legal recognition of same-sex domestic partnerships in the form of marriage or civil unions, the idea that humans are mainly or completely responsible for global warming,[13] and all forms of gambling because it believes it negatively affects one's family, personal, and professional life.[14]
In their report Funding the Culture Wars, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy lists the Family Research Council as one of the leading organizations funding the activities of the conservative movement. As a non-profit organization, FRC is completely dependent on donations from supporters.
FRC publishes frequent e-mail updates, usually in the form of short articles, which can also be viewed on their website. These articles typically take the form of advocacy for a conservative Christian perspective on current political and social issues.
Family Research Council is a member of ProtectMarriage.com, a coalition formed to sponsor California Proposition 8 to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples only, which passed in 2008 (but was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal court in California, with the ruling stayed as the case is appealed).[15]
Justice Sunday is a series of religious conferences organized by the FRC and Focus on the Family. According to FRC, the purpose of the events was to "request an end to filibusters of judicial nominees that were based, at least in part, on the nominees' religious views or imputed inability to decide cases on the basis of the law regardless of their beliefs."[16]
Every fall, FRC Action (the political action group affiliated with FRC) holds an annual summit composed for conservative Christian activists and evangelical voters in Washington, D.C. In the past, the summit has been a place for social conservatives across the nation to hear Republican presidential hopefuls' platforms, and via a straw poll since 2007 also a means of providing an early prediction of which candidate will win the endorsement of Christian conservatives.[17]
The Family Research Council's Senior Researcher for Policy Studies Peter Sprigg was criticized[18] when he, in his official capacity as a fellow of the FRC,[19] stated that gay behavior should be outlawed and that "criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior" should be enforced.[20] More recently, Sprigg has publicly suggested that repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy would encourage molestation of heterosexual service members.[21] When asked about Sprigg's comments regarding the criminalization of same-sex behavior, FRC President Tony Perkins said that criminalizing homosexuality is not a goal of the Family Research Council, but did not denounce Sprigg's statements.[22][23] Perkins repeated the FRC’s association of gay men with pedophilia,[22] saying that "If you look at the American College of Pediatricians, they say the research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a danger to children." The opinions expressed by Perkins are contradicted by mainstream social science perspectives on same-sex parenting[24] and the likelihood of child molestation by homosexuals,[24][25] and some scientists whose work is cited by the American College of Pediatricians have accused the ACP of distorting and misrepresenting their work.[26]
In the Winter 2010 issue of its magazine, Intelligence Report, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated the FRC as a hate group,[27][28] saying that the organization "pushed false accusations linking gay men to pedophilia."[29] FRC President Tony Perkins dismissed the hate group designation as a political attack on the FRC by a "liberal organization" and as part of "the left's smear campaign of conservatives."[28] On December 15, 2010 the FRC ran an open letter advertisement in two Washington, D. C. newspapers disputing the SPLC's action. A section of the letter supporting the FRC and certain other organizations designated as hate groups by the SPLC had signers which included twenty members of the House of Representatives (including then soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner), three U.S. Senators, four state Governors, and one state Attorney General.[30][31]
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