It should come as no surprise to anyone that Tony Perkins would use the recent shooting of a guard at the Family Research Council's office as an opportunity to politic on behalf of his organization.
People like Tony Perkins have no shame. No tragedy is too large or too isolated for them not to turn around and use it towards their own ends.
My admiration for the Southern Poverty Law Center has always been strong, but today it got even stronger. They responded to his disgusting remarks via this public press release.
Yesterday’s attack on the Family Research Council and the shooting of a security guard there was a tragedy. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) deplores all violence, and our thoughts are with the wounded victim, Leo Johnson, his family and others who lived through the attack.
For more than 40 years, the SPLC has battled against political extremism and political violence. We have argued consistently that violence is no answer to problems in a democratic society, and we have strongly criticized all those who endorse such violence, whether on the political left or the political right.
But this afternoon, FRC President Tony Perkins attacked the SPLC, saying it had encouraged and enabled the attack by labeling the FRC a “hate group.” The attacker, Floyd Corkins, “was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center,” Perkins said. “I believe the Southern Poverty Law Center should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology.”
Perkins’ accusation is outrageous. The SPLC has listed the FRC as a hate group since 2010 because it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda about LGBT people — not, as some claim, because it opposes same-sex marriage. The FRC and its allies on the religious right are saying, in effect, that offering legitimate and fact-based criticism in a democratic society is tantamount to suggesting that the objects of criticism should be the targets of criminal violence.
As the SPLC made clear at the time and in hundreds of subsequent statements and press interviews, we criticize the FRC for claiming, in Perkins’ words, that pedophilia is “a homosexual problem” — an utter falsehood, as every relevant scientific authority has stated. An FRC official has said he wanted to “export homosexuals from the United States.” The same official advocated the criminalizing of homosexuality.
Perkins and his allies, seeing an opportunity to score points, are using the attack on their offices to pose a false equivalency between the SPLC’s criticisms of the FRC and the FRC’s criticisms of LGBT people. The FRC routinely pushes out demonizing claims that gay people are child molesters and worse — claims that are provably false. It should stop the demonization and affirm the dignity of all people.
Not to be outdone by Tony Perkins, others such as NOM's
Brian Brown and the odious
Bryan Fischer have used this sad incident for the same ends. They have been incensed that their hateful and proven lies have landed them a spot on the SPLC's hate groups list.
As the SPLC points out so perfectly above, the false equivalency they are so desperately trying to employ in this situation is laughably transparent. If they really want themselves removed from the hate groups list, their best course of action is to stop demonizing LGBT people and to move on paying attention to what the Christ of the bible has to saying about loving thy neighbor, etc.
Finally, along with a very long list of LGBT organizations, allow me to reiterate that I personally disavow the violent actions of Floyd Lee Corkins. We will win our equality through our own love, without violence, armed only with the truth.