New report finds over 1K hate groups in US: Here’s which ones are in Southern Colorado

(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found there were over a thousand hate and antigovernment groups in the United States in 2024, and 33 of them were in Colorado.

Two of the organizations FOX21 spoke with in our region say being on the list is a badge of honor.

Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit, civil rights organization that releases an annual Year in Hate & Extremism report that looks into hate and antigovernment extremist groups in the United States as well as their influence on local, state, and national government. 

“These groups use political, communication, violent, and online tactics to build strategies and training infrastructure to divide the country, demoralize people, and dismantle democracy,” the report said.

Over 2024, the report found there were 1,371 hate and extremist groups in the United States, a 5% decline. However, the number of hate and extremist groups in Colorado has been slowly increasing, based on the new report.

Colorado has 33 hate and antigovernment groups: report

The report outlines 33 groups across Colorado on its “Hate Map,” all of which are said to be hate and antigovernment groups. 10 groups are located in Southern Colorado in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Fountain.

Here’s which groups across Colorado are on the list and what Southern Poverty Law said is their ideology:

Focus on the Family says its mission is to support healthy and thriving marriages, but they’ve also advocated conversion therapy for gay people. The Director of Family Studies says if that lands them on a hate list, then they’ll wear it with pride.

“Our big focus now is family, marriage, and parenting,” Glenn T. Stanton, the Director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, explained. “From day one, it has been like Dr. Dobson, who founded the organization, said let’s put up a shingle and let’s just trust God and see who shows up and need our help, and that’s exactly what we do and we’be been doing that every day since the mid seventies.”

Focus on the Family made the list for an anti-LGBTQ ideology, while El Paso County’s Moms for Liberty was labeled as anti-government.

“When did we start considering families and parental rights and people who want the government to get out of their household as terrorists or hate groups? And that’s how far we’ve come,” Darcy Schoening, Member of Moms for Liberty, explained. “So, you know, people like me, Moms for Liberty, we have to keep standing up.”

Moms for Liberty is among several groups suing the state of Colorado over the Kelly Loving Act, which expands transgender protections in Colorado. Those behind the suit claim it violates free speech and parental rights.

“We’re just asking for the government to stay out of our business and not to trans our kids behind our backs,” Schoening said.

Although the total number of hate and extremist groups may have dropped in the country, it continues to rise in Colorado. Previous reports tracked 30 groups in 2023 in Colorado, 31 in 2022, 18 in 2021, and 17 in 2020.

During the start of the report in 2000, the Hate Map only noted seven groups in Colorado.

While the number of white nationalist, hate, and anti-government groups around the U.S. dropped in 2024, the report said this isn’t because of the shrinking influence. The report attributes the decline to the lesser sense of urgency to organize because these beliefs have entered politics, education, and society.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.