Trento’s organization, United West, is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“There’s been evidence in the last two years — of what I’ve found — of these groups infiltrating into the state,” said Michael McDaniel, a University of Wyoming graduate student and the creator of Wyoming Hate Watch, a Facebook page dedicated to documenting racist and bigoted statements made by people and groups across the state.

It’s one of the reasons why Wyoming — with the help of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — has been looking to understand the prevalence of hate here and determine whether state and local leaders can do more to fight discrimination. For several months, the commission’s Wyoming Advisory Committee has been serving as the federal agency’s eyes and ears in the Equality State, traveling the state in their investigation of just how prevalent hate actually is in Wyoming.