COLORADO, USA — The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released its annual report of antigovernment and hate groups across the country. In Colorado, SPLC identified 30 groups in 2023. That's up from 18 in 2021.
Rachel Carroll Rivas, the Interim Director of Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Colorado is a snapshot of what rest of country is seeing. Of the 30 groups identified by the SPLC, they fall in an array of categories including: anti-LGBTQ, antigovernment, sovereign citizens movement, white nationalist and an anti-immigrant group.
Antigovernmental groups made up most of the 30 organizations.
"Colorado saw a rise in anti-student inclusion groups. These are antigovernment groups that focus on targeting our school systems and our youth," Carroll Rivas explained. "Moms for Liberty had a number of chapters in Colorado."
Moms for Liberty is a national conservative parent group that has been a part of the book ban movement in school districts.
In a statement, the Moms for Liberty founders said, “The SPLC is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Biden Administration’s repulsion for freedom and parental rights. It is a discredited organization that should not be trusted by the American public. Moms for Liberty will remain committed to ensuring that parents around the country have the protection of their fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their child.”
Anti-LGBTQ groups hit a record high according to SPLC. Mardi Moore, the executive director of Rocky Mountain Equality, formally Out Boulder County, said that news didn't surprise her. It was one of the reasons her organization expanded.
"We function in this world here in Colorado and have for quite some time," Moore said. "When I looked at the map today, the hate groups they listed are scattered throughout the state, but it's amazing how it goes down I-25. As we look at north, where we recently expanded into Larimer County in particular, there are several groups there."
Despite the nationwide growing numbers, Carroll Rivas said she'd be surprised if more antigovernment or hate groups pop up in Colorado in next year's report. She said in recent months, they have seen more people pull away from these groups as they see the national rhetoric they're pushing.
"I will say Colorado has a strong history of being one of the leading places in our country for an organized anti-LGBTQ movement under the banner of these white Christian Supremacist groups," Carroll Rivas said. "There has been this home in northern Colorado for some of those national group leadership, and so, I hope there’s some pushback in the state of Colorado itself, but I do know it's kind of been historical, and it will be a challenge for our whole country to hold those more nationally focused Colorado-based groups accountable."
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