Los Angeles, CA, October 31, 2008 ... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today condemned the Pacific Justice Institute for invoking Hitler and Nazi Germany in their campaign for California's Proposition 8, which seeks to overturn a state court ruling recognizing same-sex marriage in California.

ADL issued the following statement:

We are outraged and deeply offended that a spokesman for the Pacific Justice Institute has chosen to invoke images of Hitler and Nazi Germany as part of that organization's campaign on behalf of Proposition 8. 

ADL opposes the Proposition, but in our view, no matter what position one takes on this controversial contemporary moral and political issue, this analogy is hurtful and inappropriate. 

We should not lose sight of the fact that six million Jews perished in the Holocaust.  Unfortunately, it has become all too easy for some advocates of various political positions to suggest that their opponents are like the Nazis.  Such comparisons are profoundly hurtful and should be off limits.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.