Megyn Kelly Gives Anti-Gay Tony Perkins A Soapbox To Support Indiana’s “License To Discriminate”

Lots of panels discussing the Indiana debacle going on yesterday.

I have recently been impressed with Megyn Kelly for being fair-minded in a few interviews lately. But here she digresses to clearly biased in her position on the SB101 issue. Over and over she tells Mark Hannah to let anti-gay Tony Perkins finish, but when Perkins continually interrupts Hannah, she says nothing.

And then when she chimes in to reiterate that Indiana’s law is “the same” as other state’s RFRA laws… Not sure why I’m surprised.

Of course, Tony has to bring up the ever famous “ham sandwich” scenario in a jewish deli… Tired.

Tony Perkins Plans To Take “Leading Role” In Religious Liberty Blah Blah Blah

Tony Perkins of the anti-gay Family Research Council

Hate group leader Tony Perkins of the anti-gay Family Research Council announces he will testify at a Senate hearing regarding “religious liberty.”

“One of the benefits of putting conservatives in charge of Congress is that the agendas in most committees change — and issues that weren’t getting as much attention under liberal leaders are now front and center.

“Tomorrow [today], one of FRC’s greatest priorities, religious liberty, will be the subject of a Senate hearing in the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. As FRC takes more of a leading role in the debate, I’ve been asked to testify before the committee at 2:00 p.m. and hopefully highlight the need for greater engagement on what we see as a fundamental human right.

“With the persecution unfolding before our very eyes in the Middle East and Africa, the United States has an obligation to speak on behalf of religious freedom through every possible diplomatic avenue. After six years of silence, it is up to this Congress to repair the damage done by this administration’s indifference to persecuted Christians and other minorities.

“Our moral voice and supporting actions have been increasingly and noticeably absent with regard to international religious freedom. I’ll encourage the Senate to once again find that voice.”

I think it’s rich that Perkins claims that FRC will be taking “more of a leading role” in the religious liberty debate.

(via press release)

Tony Perkins’ Shorts In A Knot Over President Obama’s National Prayer Breakfast Comments

In an email blast last night hate group leader Tony Perkins attacked the President for comments made at yesterday’s National Prayer Breakfast:

In a speech that I can only describe as surreal, the President went on to liken Christians to the monsters behind ISIS and American racism. “And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.” First of all, the crusades were almost a thousand years ago. ISIS is killing today. What’s more, every true follower of Christ condemns the acts of barbarism committed under the mask of religion — in medieval or American history. The teachings of Christianity do not call for, nor do they condone, brutality or bigotry. Can the same be said of Islam? Are Muslims around the world denouncing the ruthless and inhumane actions of ISIS?

While Perkins may not like the truth, Jim Crow laws and the Crusades DID happen. And the fact is we must learn from the past.

Interesting that in arguing against marriage equality, Perkins LIKES to reference the past, but today when the Crusades are mentioned he dismisses the issue with “that was almost a thousand years ago.”

More and more Perkins gets his panties in a wad over occasions when the President doesn’t choose to use Perkin’s specific language on issues. It really seems to turn him into an impertinent child.

Watch below as Perkins appears on, where else?, Fox News:

Another Lie Perpetrated By Tony Perkins

Hate group leader Tony Perkins can’t help but twist and turn the facts regarding the “Ark Encounter” which recently was informed it would lose state funding in Kentucky (to the tune of $18 million) because those building the project required folks to be Christian in order to be hired.

Via email:

“At a new Kentucky theme park, Christians are the ones getting taken for a ride. Construction is already underway in Williamstown for a one-of-a-kind tourist attraction by our friends at Answers in Genesis (AiG).

“The organization behind the Creation Museum is working on a built-to-scale Ark Encounter — but so far, all they’ve encountered is intolerance. The state had given AiG the thumbs up on its application last fall, which triggered some outcry from anti-faith groups.

“Almost immediately, they swooped into Kentucky and started making noise about the rebate, demanding that it be retracted. Why? Because AiG dares to hire people who share their beliefs on creation. And as a religious organization, that’s entirely within both state and federal law.

“Do we force animal rights groups to hire hunters? No. Or Muslim groceries to hire pig farmers? Of course not.

So why is Ham’s group being targeted? Constitutional questions aside, with as many as 700,000 people expected at the Ark each year, the benefits for Kentucky far outweigh any perceived slights in hiring policy.”

Now to the facts: The “Ark Encounter” lost it’s state funding because folks applying for jobs were expected to sign affidavits swearing they were Christian. You cannot demand that employees be Christian (or any other religion) when you receive tax-payers dollars. There can be NO religious litmus test. That’s what “Ark Encounter” did.

In a statement by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear in December:

“We expect any entity that accepts state incentives not to discriminate on any basis in hiring. While the leaders of Ark Encounter had previously agreed not to discriminate in hiring based on religion, they now refuse to make that commitment and it has become apparent that they do intend to use religious beliefs as a litmus test for hiring decisions. For that reason, we cannot proceed with the tourism incentive application for the Ark Encounter project.

The project didn’t lose funding because people dared to be Christian. It lost funding because the project REQUIRED employees to be Christian.

So two important things here:

1. Tony Perkins lies. All the folks who listen to him and nod in agreement should know that you are listening to lies. His email posted above makes that abundantly clear.

2. Even if you are Christian and would like the rest of the world to be, the laws of the land dictate that tax dollars can’t be used to discriminate in hiring. Whether you support or oppose the Ark Encounter project, employment discrimination can’t be a part of the equation regarding religious beliefs.

Get it right, Tony. Get the facts straight and stop twisting the truth.

Tony Perkins: Gays Persecute Christians On Facebook With “Naked” Pictures

After years of fighting to deny equal rights to the LGBT community, Tony Perkins of the hate group Family Research Council recently told his radio show audience that when LGBT advocates call his ilk out for hate speech what’s really happening is gays “projecting” their own hate.

Talk about turning a situation around in your head.

He also compared gay activists to a deranged man who showed up at FRC headquarters with a gun last year.

Listen below via Right Wing Watch:

Perkins took a call from a listener who complained that he had seen a picture on Facebook of “two naked guys sitting on each other” and that when he complained about it to Facebook “in a nice, respectful, Christian way,” he was treated like “the biggest bigot out there.”

“I think we need to pray for them, maybe they’ll turn their lives around,” the caller said.

Perkins agreed that “Jesus said that we are to pray for our enemies, for those who persecute us, that would be those who mock and ridicule us, absolutely we should pray for them.”

Citing a mentally disturbed man who tried to stage an attack on FRC headquarters, Perkins contended that LGBT rights proponents are the real intolerant “haters” because they’re “projecting.”

“We’ve had them come into our building with guns, shooting, to try to kill us,” he said. “We harbor no bitterness in our hearts toward them, which is something they can’t understand. They want to project and that’s why they like to call us haters and so on and so forth, but they’re projecting.”

He added that he is very tolerant of gay people and doesn’t mind if they “live together, do whatever they want to do” as long as they don’t “redefine all of society for the rest of us.”

“I think more and more Americans are waking up because they’re seeing it,” he said. “This is being shoved into people’s faces, and if, like you, they say, ‘I don’t want this on my Facebook page, I don’t want this, I don’t want to see this, look, do whatever you want to do but don’t involve me in that’ — that’s not good enough, there’s this effort of forced acceptance and affirmation. And we just can’t do that.”

Ted Olsen Debates Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins On Upcoming SCOTUS/Marriage Equality Case

Anti-gay hate group leader Tony Perkins attempted to debate former Solicitor General under Bush Ted Olsen today on Fox News Sunday in anticipation of the upcoming review of same sex marriage at SCOTUS announced this week.

Perkins was not a match for Olsen, an experience attorney who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court many times.  Time and again Olsen brought the discussion back to facts, and not hysterics.

Best line of the segment:

“The Supreme Court of the United States, 15 times over the last 120 years, has said that marriage is a fundamental right,” Olsen responded, also pointing out that numerous states had decided via ballot or legislature to legalize the practice. “Never once in any of those cases did it say it had to be between a man and woman. 15 times it said it was a matter of privacy, liberty, association, dignity and respect for the individual. That’s what the constitution’s all about.”

Perkins, in woeful defense, tried to interrupt, “Marriage – but not same-sex marriage.”

Olsen swatted that away without a shrug.

Weak, Tony. Very, very weak.

Tony Perkins Compares Gay Activists To Charlie Hebdo Terrorists

During an appearance on “Washington Watch” yesterday, hate group leader Tony Perkins compared Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s decision to terminate the city’s fire chief for violating city employment practices by distributed to his employees a self-published book containing condemnations of homosexuality to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris:

“Look, what happened there in Paris was designed to intimidate and silence. What happened here in Georgia, it wasn’t terrorists, it was a mayor; it wasn’t a gun he fired, but it was the chief he fired. And the intent was the same: it was to silence and to intimidate people of faith.”

(via Right Wing Watch)

Fox News To Host Marriage Equality Debate Between Ted Olson And Tony Perkins

Tune in this Sunday at 10AM ET.

Via press release:

Both sides in the same-sex marriage debate are looking to the Supreme Court as it decides whether or not to weigh in on the issue. The High Court is set to discuss cases from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, and decide whether to rule on petitions challenging state bans on same-sex marriage.

We’ll debate what has become a key social issue within the country, exclusively with Ted Olson, former Solicitor General who served as Co-Counsel for the plaintiffs in Virginia’s same-sex marriage case, and Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council.

From Last Night’s Hate Rally In Houston

(via JoeMyGod)

Last night, the anti-gay Family Research Council hosted a hate rally to raise opposition against openly lesbian Mayor Annise Parker for passing LGBT protections in Houston.

While the haters keep saying their opposition is based solely on their ‘deeply held religious convictions,’ t-shirts made their way around the rally with the saying “We reserve the right to refuse service to homosexuals.”

But remember, it’s not about the gays – it’s about protecting “religious freedoms.”

Riiiiiiiiight.

LGBT Advocates Use Anti-Gay Hashtag To Demonstrate Hate & Intolerance

Family Research Council initiated a hastag — #iStandSunday — to promote their anti-equality campaign taking place in Houston on Sunday night.

Buuuuut – LGBT Tweeters across the nation decided to take the opportunity to use the hashtag as a stand for love and equality.

All graphics via Memeographs.