Cross-posted from Bold Faith Type
Last weekend, Faithful America members from the Boston area confronted Chris Matthews at a book signing in Framingham, Massachusetts about his track record of inviting Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Hardball as a representative of Christian voters. FRC was named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2010 for spreading hateful lies and junk research about the LGBT community -- and in part because of an incident in which a senior FRC staffer said on Hardball that there should be "criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior."
Matthews, who just received Human Rights Campaign's Ally for Equality award, responded by falsely claiming that Perkins has never "pulled that homophobic stuff on my show," and insisting that "every time he's on he's challenged."
That's just not true. After SPLC named FRC a hate group, Matthews invited Perkins on to defend his organization. Perkins took the opportunity to repeat his false accusations that gay men are more likely than heterosexual men to molest children, and said "the research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a risk to children."
Since that November 2010 appearance (which did include SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok), Perkins has appeared on Hardball six times -- and neither Matthews nor any of his guests have brought up Perkins' long record of spreading hateful anti-gay lies.
Instead, Matthews has gone out of his way to give credibility to Perkins, calling him an "honest conservative" with "true views" whose conscience he trusts. Viewers who trust Matthews's judgment and honesty come away with the impression that they should do the same of Perkins.
Asked to stop inviting Perkins on the air, Matthews accused the Faithful America members of "trying to silence people" -- a curious charge given that he recently urged his fellow MSNBC anchors to stop booking Franklin Graham because of Graham's persistent false attacks on the President's faith.
As you can see in the video, when Faithful America member Jeff Bridges raises the question of legitimizing Perkins's off-air comments, Matthews has no real response, admitting that "you may be right. I may agree with you, but not right now."
It’s long past time for Matthews to stop giving Tony Perkins a platform. As Bishop Gene Robinson explained to MSNBC representatives last month highlighting the shockingly high suicide rate among gay teens, the lies people like Perkins tell "are killing us and they're killing our kids."