It's a religeous group who are vociferously against the gay lifestyle, among other things. Now, I do not agree with their methods, in fact the protest at Shepards funeral I find particularly obscene.However, the news refers to them as an anti-gay hate group ONLY to polarize a specific group of people (the gays & lesbians) & to elicit a response for them.
Being a religeous group, the news could just have easily called them an anti-adultery group,or an anti-murdering group. How about an anti theft group? IMHO.