Public Advocate of the United States
Public Advocate of the United States is an organization founded in either 1978 or 1981 (disputed) by Eugene Delgaudio. It advocates religious conservative policies in American politics. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the organization as a hate group for its anti-gay activism. Platform. The organization's platform includes: In 2005, Delgadio said that he was the only full-time employee of the organization. On its 2010 tax form, Public Advocate reported $1.07 million in total revenue, and that it paid $158,682 to Eugene Delgaudio & Associates, as an independent contractor . Anti-gay activism. In early 2012, the organization was designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), on the basis of its anti-gay activism. In September 2012, the SPLC sued Public Advocate in Denver, Colorado, federal court over a mailer sent to some Colorado primary voters in 2010. The SPLC's client was a gay couple who were married in a civil ceremony in Connecticut. The mailer included a modified version of the couple's engagement photo, taken of them kissing with the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop. The photo had been copied without permission  from the couple's blog and edited to appear as if they were kissing with snow-covered pine trees surrounding them, with bold words on a red background saying "State Senator Jean White's idea of "Family Values?"." In April 2014, a judge ruled that Public Advocate had not legally misappropriated the image, but that there was a plausible copyright infringement; in June 2014, the parties settled, with the photographer paid $2,501. In March 2014, Public Advocate's attorney submitted a subpoena request seeking detailed information from the SPLC about the criteria, research, and decision process that was used  to issue the "hate group" designation. In August 2016, a reporter for the Washington Free Beacon wrote that "A typical press release from Public Advocate calmly asserts that 'homosexuals' who 'run rampant over the country' are working to create 'a nation where police are forced by gay "rights" laws to allow sexual predators like "Uncle Ed" Savitz and Jeffrey Dahmer to rape and murder young boys in the streets.'"