American Coalition for Traditional Values
Traditional Values Coalition
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| Founded | 1984 |
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| Founder | Louis P. Sheldon |
| Type | Nonprofit 501(c)(4) |
| 33-0055498 (EIN) | |
| Location |
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Area served
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United States |
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Key people
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Andrea Lafferty, Executive director Louis P. Sheldon, Chairman and CEO |
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Revenue
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$8,658,511 (2010) |
| Mission | Public education and lobbying |
| Website | www |
The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) is an American conservative Christian organization that represents, by its estimate, over 43,000 Christian churches throughout the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., its belief is in Bible-based traditional values as a "moral code and behavior based upon the Old and New Testaments." The group considers traditional values to include a belief "that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that the Lord has given us a rule book to live by: The Bible" and a commitment to "living, as far as it is possible, by the moral precepts taught by Jesus Christ and by the whole counsel of God as revealed in the Bible." It was founded by Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, the current chairman. His daughter, Andrea Sheldon Lafferty, is the executive director.
It has been designated an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center: the SPLC states that they spread "known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling."
In some ways, the aims of the group are those of a wider movement. It does not provide formal position statements but outlines the traditional values it is fighting for as follows:(dead link)
The group then explains in paragraphs titled "Discrimination and Tolerance" and "Love and Hate" how it aims to deal with accusations that its activities are based on hatred of those not following similar beliefs. Without stating what action should be taken, the organization maintains that "individuals may be free to pursue such behaviors as sodomy, but [that they] will not and cannot tolerate these behaviors." However, the TVC's stances against homosexuality and the LGBT rights movement are, comparatively, more confrontational than those of many groups with similar views. There are a number of smaller groups that take a harder line, most notably Westboro Baptist Church, which the TVC has criticized for many years, likening it to a false flag operation. The gap between the TVC and other conservative groups was described by Winnie Stachelberg of the pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign as follows: "They're out there every day supporting discrimination against gay people on nearly every issue, and you don’t see that so much from other groups." The Coalition took this as a compliment. By comparison, Jerry Falwell stated in his later years, "Civil rights for all Americans...gay, straight, et cetera, is not a liberal or a conservative value. It's an American value that I would think that we pretty much all agree on."
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Wikipedia