According to the IRS, the tax-exempt status of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) was revoked on 5/10/2010 (PDF). The reason for this action is listed by the reporting organization Guidestar as a “failure to file a Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, or 990-PF for 3 consecutive years.” These forms are required of legitimate non-profit organizations for review by the IRS and the public.While the current incarnation of AFTAH appears to have been active since 2006, we found only one form 990-EZ on file — for the year 2009 (PDF). In this, total receipts are listed as $110.000, out of which Peter LaBarbera received a salary of $75,000. For perspective, this is approximately the same salary plus benefits claimed by Exodus president Alan Chambers. Exodus lists eleven employees and a million dollar budget.
According to the IRS documentation on revocations (PDF), AFTAH can no longer be considered a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization, and there is no process for appeal. Donations made to them before 6/10/2011 are still deductible by donors, though any income after revocation may be taxed and require filing of a federal return. LaBarbera appears to have been aware of all this, as the donations section of the AFTAH website no longer claims tax-exempt status.
AFTAH is one of a handful of anti-gay organizations classified by the venerable civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a hate group. According to the SPLC, this is due to LaBarbera’s intense marketing of untruths which paint gays and lesbians in a false and negative light (eg. promoting the claims of the discredited Paul Cameron, claims of a disproportionate incidence of pedophilia in gays, and Scott Lively’s assertion that gays headed the Nazi party, etc).
Thousands of organizations exist which claim that homosexuality is a sin or otherwise immoral, only eighteen are listed as true hate groups by the SPLC. AFTAH is one of them.
ExGayWatch obtained