Tag: Tony Perkins

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Tony Perkins gets fact checked

Tony Perkins, the president of the hate-group Family Research Council, said on CBS’ Face the Nation a few days after the SCOTUS rulings on marriage equality that wedding vendors have already been “forced” to serve same-sex couples.

“We’re already seeing bakers and florists and photographers forced to participate in same-sex marriages under the threat of law and in some cases even jail. I can’t think of anything that’s more un-American than that. … “

Host Bob Schieffer responded: “How is it that bakers and florists are being forced to participate in this? I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying here.”

So the fact-checking website PolitiFact did some research to see how many vendors have actually gone to jail for not “participating in same-sex marriages.”  The answer will probably NOT surprise you:

After the Supreme Court rulings about gay marriage, Perkins said, “We’re already seeing bakers and florists and photographers forced to participate in same-sex marriages under the threat of law and in some cases even jail.”

We didn’t find cases where people were forced to participate against their will. However, if vendors refuse service, there are consequences. There are 21 states that forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation. Vendors who refuse service there could face legal actions and fines.

The “jail” part of Perkins’ claim is an exaggeration. We couldn’t find any evidence that a vendor had been sent to jail or that any legal authority had threatened jail time. In some states, if a business owner loses an anti-discrimination case and refuses to comply with an order, the owner could face jail, but we found no evidence of that ever happening. One state, Colorado, specifically took action to remove the threat of jail.

Read the whole report at PolitiFact

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Tony Perkins continues to support license to discriminate in the military

Funny how Tony Perkins can spin anything to support his own narrative.

Congressman John Fleming proposed an amendment which is now attached to the Defense Appropriations bill that would allow anyone in the military to denigrate gays and lesbians verbally as long as it was tied to their deeply held religious beliefs. “Burn in hell, faggot.” All good as long as you say you’re a Christian. It’s basically a license to discriminate. Which Tony Perkins likes.

President Obama has threatened to veto the Defense bill if that language isn’t removed. Soooo, Tony Perkins takes to his perch today to “spin doctor” the situation:

“President Obama can’t veto the First Amendment, so he’s doing the next best thing: refusing to let his troops exercise it.

“In his most combative move yet, the administration warned Congress yesterday that it strongly opposes Rep. John Fleming’s religious freedom amendment, which sailed through the House Armed Services Committee with bipartisan support.

“Now, the administration is taking its spite to new heights by threatening to withhold a year’s worth of defense funding over a simple amendment protecting the same rights our troops fight for every day. The administration, which had been content to drive faith underground in the military, is moving to its next phase: driving faith out.

“Welcome to Obama’s military, where open homosexuality is encouraged but open belief is not.” – Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via press release.

Amazing….

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Anti-gay voices’ deafening silence on violent LGBT attacks

Pic via Memeographs.  Click pic to enlarge

After last year’s shooting at Family Research Council, many prominent voices in the LGBT community condemned the senseless attack.

However, I have been pondering the deafening silence of the Tony Perkins’ (Family Research Council) and Brian Browns’ (National Organization for Marriage) of the world regarding the multiple violent attacks on the gay community in NYC this month.

Question: does silence equal consent?

UPDATE: Interestingly, the following statement appeared on the NOM Blog this afternoon, hours after my original post above.

“We condemn in the strongest possible way the murder of a gay man in New York by a killer who apparently hurled anti-gay insults at him moments before the killing. This senseless act cannot be condoned in America or anywhere, and we urge that the perpetrator be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Our heart goes out to the family of the victim, and we hold them in our prayers. While this killing appears to have no connection to the current debate about redefining marriage, there is no room for violence toward any American — whether they support traditional marriage or not. No person should be subjected to violence because they are gay or lesbian or because they believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. There is no place for violence, period.” – Brian Brown

UPDATE 2: This statement is now on the Family Research Council website.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement regarding the charges filed in the Mark Carson murder case in New York City: “We denounce any and all acts of unprovoked violence. No American should be the target of violence – period. We hope and trust that justice will be served in that the perpetrator of this senseless act of violence will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Perkins said.

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Highlights from Family Research Council’s “Stand with Scouts Sunday’

Highlights from the “Stand with Scouts Sunday” anti-gay hate-a-thon.

Do you like how one scout refers to gays as not being “clean?” Because homosexuality is supposedly “morally unclean.”

Quick observation – how many straight scouts do you think have sex before marriage? Is that “morally clean?” I don’t judge those scouts, but clearly there’s a double standard when it comes to what is or isn’t “clean” on a “moral” landscape.

Also – note how Tony Perkins throws out his dog whistle at 1:38 about “the evidence is beginning to mount” on gays in the military and DADT. That’s how these folks work. They repeat those talking points in a tone of voice that sounds factual and non-threatening, and the folks who listen hear it over and over.  Over time, it all becomes “fact” to them.

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Family Research Council busted using faked image for anti-gay propaganda

Just another day in the lying land of the Family Research Council.

The image above was used in FRC’s recent propaganda to show several concerned people at a “Boy Scouts Policy Meeting.”  See the placard on the left side of the picture saying “2013 Policy Meeting?”  See the Boy Scouts emblem near the center of the image?  Jeremy Hooper from Good As You found just one, little problem:

It’s a complete fabrication. FRC simply Photoshopped a Boy Scout logo and a “2013 Policy Meeting” placard onto an existing picture that they lifted from another site. The picture in question is actually from the website LegalGeekery.com and is described as being from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The LegalGeekery post is from 2009. See the original image below BEFORE Family Research Council performed their bigotry magic on it:

So, here’s the thing, kids: if you have swallowed any of the FRC’s sad diatribe against the LGBT community up to now, think about who you follow. Because for all you know, they are as fake as the image at the top of this post.

(via JoeMyGod)

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Tony Perkins: Boston bombing was practically (almost) gay marriage’s fault

“If Congress wants to stop these tragedies, then it has to address the government’s own hostility to the institution of the family and organizations that can address the real problem: the human heart. As I’ve said before, America doesn’t need gun control, it needs self-control. And a Congress that actively discourages it through abortion, family breakdown, sexual liberalism, or religious hostility is only compounding the problem.” – Hate group leader Tony Perkins

I don’t know how much closer Perkins could get to blaming the Boston bombing on marriage equality, but I do know I’m getting less and less patient with his icky, ugly campaign against the LGBT community.  The nerve of him to invoke the phrase “the human heart” when he himself spends every waking minute making life miserable for so many is appalling.

He loves to double-back and say “I don’t hate gays” but seriously folks, how long can you live every day dogging a whole community of people?

The act’s worn thin….

(via RightWingWatch)

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Evan Wolfson’s truth trumps Tony Perkins’ packaged talking points

On Face The Nation this morning, a round table was held discussing the upcoming oral arguments to be held at the US Supreme Court on same-sex marriage.

Watch the full discussion above where Tony Perkins, of the certified hate group Family Research Council, tries to repeat and repeat his long practiced scare tactics about marriage equality while Evan Wolfson puts the facts about equality on the table.

(via Good As You)

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Tony Perkins: Women can’t handle combat

“In another triumph of political correctness over common sense, the Pentagon is lifting its ban on women in combat and direct combat units.

“Senior officials leaked the news yesterday during the House’s Benghazi hearings, making the timing even more suspect. If Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was hoping to distract the country from Hillary Clinton’s Libyan testimony, he succeeded.

“According to leaders, even Congress wasn’t warned. Much like the plan to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ the risks of this integration (physical stamina and injury, emotional stress, sexual assault, pregnancy, adultery, unit readiness, family breakdown) seem secondary to the administration’s liberal agenda.

“How much national security is our President willing to forgo to promote this kind of progressive feminism?” – Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via press release.

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Dan Savage takes down Tony Perkins over hate speech

Dan Savage addresses Tony Perkins of the anti-gay Family Research Council and dares him to take Dan to court.

“Tony Perkins sits on a pile of dead gay kids every day when he goes to work. [snip] I welcome a lawsuit. A witness stand is a lonely place to lie. And that’s what you do for a living… I look forward to that day in court. I look forward to seeing you on a witness stand, something you have dodged and ducked for decades.”

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Tony Perkins blames Southern Poverty Law Center for FRC shooting

Now, let me get this straight – last year, after Sarah Palin, the former half-term governor of Alaska, put cross-hairs on Democratic politicians in a graphic that included Rep. Gabby Giffords, and a connection to the Giffords shooting was discussed in the media, the right wing nuts screamed how she COULD NOT be in any way be involved. Am I remembering this right?

But now, a nut with a gun heads over to FRC and shoots someone, and now it’s the Southern Poverty Law Center’s fault? The SPLC who did not send out a memo or graphic with cross-hairs suggesting anyone go shoot anyone.

Get a grip and stop politicizing a terrible incident. The man who was the shooter at FRC was deranged and wrong. Period. But that doesn’t make SPLC responsible just because the SPLC has called FRC on their own hate speech.

Give me a break. As everyone said last year during the terrible Gabby Giffords shooting, it’s despicable to politicize such a horrible incident.

Stop it Tony Perkins. Stop right now.