American Family Association

The American Anti-Family Association (AFA) is a reactionary Christian organization founded by Donald Wildmon in 1977 and located in Tupelo, Mississippi. They disseminate their hate via their own radio network (American Family Radio), which syndicates their fear-driven content via more than 180 stations in 40 states. Much like most reactionary media, they send frequent "Action Alerts" to their subscribers. AFA is virulently homophobic and transphobic and is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.Groups that helped oust Iowa judges earn ‘hate group’ designation., Archived from the original at The Iowa Independent, November 23, 2010.The Anti-Gay Lobby: The Family Research Council, the American Family Association & the Demonization of LGBT People. Southern Poverty Law Center, 6 October 2011. As is the case with virtually all right wing evangelical organizations in the United States, they consider Donald Trump to be a god and ceaselessly bash any person or idea they perceive as a threat to their savior.
Since Donald Wildmon's retirement in 2010, the AFA has been led by his son, the reactionary extremist Tim Wildmon.Tim Wildmon profile at the Southern Poverty Law Center.Tim Wildmon profile at the American Family Association.
==Their mission==
Their mission is to make homosexuality illegal, along with abortion, and maybe even women's voting rights. It's pretty obvious through their website and Action Alerts. On 3 February 2010, Bryan Fischer, the group's director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy, commented on the AFA web site:
This is primarily done through boycotts and protests against those who do not agree with their social views. One of their major successes was getting 7-Elven to stop selling Playboy and Penthouse in 1986 after boycotting them for two years straight.https://web.archive.org/web/20051215133555/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_n9_v29/ai_9076835 In 1993, they launched a campaign against ABC's police drama NYPD Blues due to its violence, encouraging local networks to not show it and citizens to boycott it, which caused roughly a quarter of their member stations to pre-empt its first episode.https://web.archive.org/web/20080612180212/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/N/htmlN/nypdblue/nypdblue.htm
==Action Alerts==
The AFA is obsessed with every act of gay sex in America and every single opinion everyone has about it. Just in case America isn't obsessed enough with gayness, the AFA sends out a barrage of Action Alerts so that gay obsession can be updated in real time. Most of their Action Alerts are about seemingly frivolous things such as the McDonald's gay rights situation, the same-sex marriage argument in California, or "gays showering with straights" in the military when that Don't Ask Don't Tell policy was abolished.<capture>"Obama's new military: Gays showering with straights"</capture>, AFA, February 8, 2010. Their emails use clearly biased and occasionally homophobic language that still maintains the ability to seem all nice and everything.
The AFA targets companies that have made statements or policies in favour of gay rights, advertised in gay publications,<capture>"Campbell Soup Company embraces homosexual agenda"</capture>, AFA, December 19, 2008. or even just advertised during a commercial break in a TV show which they find objectionable.<capture>"'Family Guy' crossed the line"</capture>, AFA, February 18, 2010. They call for members to bombard these companies with complaints or boycott their products.
Sadly, these tactics are often successful, and the AFA smugly drops its boycotts when these companies withdraw their participation in or support of LGBTQ organisations.See for example, <capture>"AFA ends boycott: McDonald's agrees to changes"</capture>, AFA, October 9, 2008, and <capture>"PepsiCo practices reflect change; AFA suspends boycott"</capture>, February 12, 2010. It can be useful to sign up for their list and then use it to launch a support effort for targeted companies. It should also be kept in mind that their perception of boycotts by liberal pressure groups is singularly laughable for its hypocrisy,AFA Rails Against Evil Liberal Boycotts, Dispatches from the Culture Wars so don't expect them to show much in the way of insight anytime soon.
==Stupid fundraising stunts==
Like a lot of other advocacy organizations, the AFA occasionally sells seasonal gifts in order to help finance their campaigns. Back in 2008 (shortly after Barack Obama was elected), they offered an electrically-powered devotional item that seems just a bit suspect, although they've probably got some incredibly pathetic convenient excuse for the item in question.AFA Peddles Christmas Crap, Dispatches from the Culture Wars
==Defending Roy Moore==
Sandy Rios, who has a show on American Family Radio ("Sandy Rios in the Morning"), defended accused sexual predator Roy Moore during his campaign for US Senate, using the not as bad as or Argumentum ad populum fallacies, saying:
==Other shenanigans==
The organization's homophobia extends to its internet presence. In at least two cases, the filtering software on the OneNewsNow webshite changed the word "gay" to "homosexual," resulting in a news service article about Olympics sprinter Tyson Gay being bowdlerized so that the article's headline read "Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials," and the article referred to Gay as "Tyson Homosexual."Homophobic news site changes athlete Tyson Gay to Tyson Homosexual. boingboing.net, 30 June 2008.Kyle Mantyla, The Dangers of Auto-Replace. Right Wing Watch, 30 June 2008.
They also make falsified articles that denounce other religions and endorse their version of Christianity, writing an article called “The Hidden Traps of Wicca” to paint Wicca as a dangerous and evil religion whose issues are cured by the power of Jesus.The Hidden Traps of Wicca by Catherine Sanders (2024). American Family Association. This is, of course, bullshit.
==See also==
*American Decency Association
*Homosexual agenda
*Bryan Fischer
*The Last Temptation of Christ
==External links==
*American Family Association
*American Family Radio
*American Family News, formerly "One News Now," their fake news site
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Anti-abortion activists
Category:Anti-LGBT bigots
Category:Antisemitism
Category:Atheophobia
Category:Conservative deceit
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Fundamentalist Christian organizations
Category:Hate groups
Category:Homophobia
Category:Islamophobia
Category:Misnomers
Category:Paleoconservatism
Category:Political action groups
Category:Propaganda
Category:Racism
Category:Radio
Category:Sexism
Category:Transphobia