Waltham Anti-LGTBQ Organization Listed As Hate Group

WALTHAM, MA — A national anti-LGBTQ organization headquartered in Waltham was labeled a hate group, according to a new report.

MassResistance was one of 12 hate groups operating in Massachusetts in 2020, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's annual Year in Hate and Extremism report released earlier this month. The center is a nonprofit focusing on civil rights.

MassResistance has fought the legalization of same-sex marriage and the expansion of rights for gay and transgendered people, according to the center. Its founder, Brian Camenker, of Newton, has falsely claimed no gay people died in the Holocaust and that the pink triangle the Nazis forced imprisoned gay people to wear actually signified Catholic priests, according to the center.

Camenker has denied MassResistance is a hate group in interviews, and called it a "pro-family activist organization" on his website.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center is not a news source," he said in an email Wednesday. "It's a left-wing attack organization with no credibility that has been forced to pay out millions of dollars from libel lawsuits. I have never made the ridiculous claim that 'no gay people died in the Holocaust.' As a Jew myself, I am very sensitive to that issue. The SPLC simply made that up. They do that to conservative groups around the country."

MassResistance was founded in 1995 as the Parents’ Rights Coalition. It became the Article 8 Alliance in 2003 and took on its current name in 2006. It currently has locations in Texas, Michigan, California, Nevada and New York, according to the center.

In 2019, there were 15 hate groups operating in Massachusetts, according to the center, which said there was a decrease in hate group activity nationwide in 2020. The center said has become more difficult to measure extremism as groups moved to encrypted platforms during the coronavirus pandemic.

The center said it labels organizations as hate group list when they link being LGBTQ to pedophilia; claim that marriage equality and LGBTQ people are dangerous; support the criminalization of LGBTQ people; or declare there is a “homosexual agenda” conspiracy to destroy Christianity and society.