Family Research Council

Not to be confused with Family Research Institute.

Family Research Council
Founded1983
FounderJames Dobson
Type501(c)(3) non-profit organization
52-1792772 (EIN)
Location
Area served
United States
Key people
Revenue (2023)
$22,031,968[1]
Expenses (2023)$21,980,863[1]
Employees116[1]
Websitefrc.org
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The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical 501(c)(3) non-profit[2] activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values.[3] It opposes and lobbies against access to pornography, embryonic stem-cell research, abortion, divorce, and LGBT rights—such as anti-discrimination laws, same-sex marriage, same-sex civil unions, and LGBT adoption.[4] The FRC has been criticized by media sources and professional organizations such as the American Sociological Association for using "anti-gay pseudoscience" to falsely conflate homosexuality and pedophilia, and to falsely claim that the children of same-sex parents suffer from more mental health problems.[5][6][7]

FRC was formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson and incorporated in 1983.[8] In the late 1980s, FRC officially became a division of Dobson's main organization, Focus on the Family; however, after an administrative separation, FRC became an independent entity in 1992. Tony Perkins is its current president. FRC is affiliated with a lobbying PAC known as FRC Action, of which Josh Duggar was the executive director from 2013 until 2015.[9][10][11]

The FRC is active outside of the United States; in 2010, FRC paid $25,000 to congressional lobbyists for what they described as "Res.1064 Ugandan Resolution Pro-homosexual promotion" in a lobbying disclosure report. Uganda would go on to pass the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill, a bill which would have imposed either the death penalty or life imprisonment for sexual relations between persons of the same sex. On 1 August 2014, however, the Constitutional Court of Uganda ruled the act invalid on procedural grounds.[12][13][14][15]

In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center classified FRC as an anti-LGBT hate group due to what it says are the group's "false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science" in an effort to block LGBT civil rights.[16][17] In 2012, the FRC's headquarters were attacked by a gunman, resulting in an injury to a security guard, in connection with this designation.[18]

  1. ^ a b c "Family Research Council Inc: Full text of "Full Filing" for fiscal year ending June 2023". ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. June 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  2. ^ "Family Research Council Inc". projects.propublica.org. ProPublica. May 9, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Peterson, David James (2010). "The 'basis for a just, free, and stable society': Institutional Homophobia and Governance at the Family Research Council". Gender and Language. 4 (2): 257–286. doi:10.1558/genl.v4i2.257. ISSN 1747-633X.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wired was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference DailyBeast was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Lopez, German (February 20, 2017). "Milo Yiannopoulos resurrected a dangerous old myth about gay men and pedophilia". Vox.
  8. ^ "About FRC: History/Mission". Family Research Council. May 8, 2010. Archived from the original on February 4, 2007.
  9. ^ Paul S. Herrnson; Ronald G. Shaiko; Clyde Wilcox (2005). The interest group connection: electioneering, lobbying, and policymaking in Washington. CQ Press. p. 410. ISBN 978-1-56802-922-1. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  10. ^ "Josh Duggar moving to D.C. for political job with Family Research Council". The Washington Post. June 18, 2013. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  11. ^ Josh Duggar Is Convicted of Downloading Child Sexual Abuse Imagery, The New York Times, December 9, 2021
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Weigel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference McEwan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference disclosure was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Eichler, Alex. "13 New Organizations Added to Anti-Gay 'Hate Groups' List". The Wire via The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 15, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  17. ^ Lin, Joy (March 25, 2015). "Family Research Council Demands Apology Over 'Hate Group' Label". FoxNews. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapomag18 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).