Appeals court rejects anti-LGBTQ group’s lawsuit challenging “hate group” label
FlaglerLive.com.A federal judge in Alabama dismissed the lawsuit in 2019, finding that the SPLC’s characterization of Coral Ridge was a form of First Amendment-protected speech, and that Amazon’s decision not to include Coral Ridge in its list of charities benefiting from the AmazonSmile program did not violate the country’s civil rights laws.Coral Ridge then appealed to the 11th Circuit, arguing, in a court filing last year that it is not a hate group, while acknowledging its religious-based opposition to homosexuality.But in a 15-page opinion issued this week, the 11th Circuit upheld the dismissal, finding that Coral Ridge did not assert that the SPLC acted with “actual malice” — the standard needed to be met in order to prove defamation–