Ohio-based Christian public policy lobbying group designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center between 2015 and 2017 when it was called Citizens for Community Values. It has since changed its name.
—Stirred up opposition and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric against the Broadview Heights LGBTQ Pride Fest, which is co-sponsored by the city and taking place on city property. Senior director of advancement for the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) Robert Kilo told city council members, “We are not Lakewood. We are not Cleveland. We are Broadview Heights… You try to cram this down our throats, we the people will have something to say—and tonight is just the beginning.”
—Lobbied against the Ohio Fairness Act, which would have criminalized discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
—Worked closely with state lawmakers including Rep. Adam Holmes on crafting the language and revisions for the “Save Women’s Sports” bill, which bans transgender girls from participating in school sports.
—Opposes same-sex marriage, and its site once read that the group believes “homosexual behavior is unhealthy and destructive to the individual, to families, and thus to communities and to society as a whole.”
—David Mahan, policy director at the Center for Christian Virtue in Columbus, gave a guest sermon attacking transgender people.
—Ohio’s Focus on the Family affiliate organization