Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Family Research Council is to blame for near massacre at its headquarters

Today, Floyd Lee Corkins, the young man who opened fire at the Family Research Council headquarters last year, plead guilty to several counts in court.

And today, FRC head Tony Perkins again blamed the Southern Poverty Law Center for the incident, which could have been deadly if it were not for a security guard who disarmed Corkins before he harmed anyone.

Perkins claimed that SLPC gave Corkins a "license for violence" by labeling the FRC as a hate group. Perkins also contended that the SPLC gave his group the label to "silence" it because it speaks out on Christian principles in regards to homosexuality.

Now a stereotype about gays is that sometimes we can be brutally honest even to the point of not caring about hurt and angry feelings. I generally refrain from that stereotype, but today I feel the need to embrace it.

Someone has to sit Mr. Perkins down and school him on the truth. I am very certain that Perkins is already aware of this truth, but he needs to be told publicly so that everyone else can know.

SPLC isn't responsible for Corkins' near massacre at FRC headquarters last year. If Perkins wants to blame someone, he should look to himself and his organization.

For years, while under the guise of Biblical principles, FRC  dehumanized the lgbt community. Time after time, the organization performed a mass slander against us by claiming that we are like drug abusers, that we are pedophiles, that we are terrorists and that we are led by Satan. It actively undermined any effort of the gay community to achieve any form of equality or the right to self-determination. FRC is even so cold-hearted as to claim that efforts to prevent gay youth from committing suicide is wrong.

In addition, FRC relies on phony experts to create "studies" and "papers" designed to lend some degree of credibility to its negative claims about the gay community, even if these "studies" and "papers" cherry-pick legitimate studies.

Let's be clear. This is not an accident. FRC's actions against the lgbt community are intentional. FRC's actions against the gay community are deliberate. When Perkins calls gays pedophiles, he knows what he is saying is not true and you can tell by his weaselly verbiage: 

There is a disproportionate number of male on boy — when we get on pedophilia, male on boy is a higher incident rate of that. We never said all homosexuals are pedophiles. that’s not what we’re saying.


When Tony Perkins smears efforts such as the "It Gets Better Campaign," he knows that his attacks could hurt gay youth, but he doesn't care. When an FRC phony expert such as Peter Sprigg cites a study while omitting crucial parts of it which would destroy his "dangers of homosexuality" claim, he knows exactly what he is doing.

And when Perkins claims that FRC is not about hatred, it's the biggest lie of them all. It's the organization's lifeblood. FRC can't get people to read its emails, listen to its phony experts, visit its webpage, or donate money if the organization doesn't give folks a reason to. And what's a better reason to support FRC than stopping a so-called sinful homosexual out to destroy your values and harm your children in the process?

Through its lies and distortions, FRC nursed fears of gays, stoked the egos of some Christians based upon a few arguably mistaken Biblical verses, and exploited stereotypes about gay sexual intercourse until it created a wall of hatred against gays.

But here is the thing about hatred. It's like a fire which can't be controlled. Sooner or later it backfires on its creator. And in this case, the hatred which FRC sowed against the gay community backfired on the organization in the form of a young man with a gun, a warped mind, and an ugly mission which thankfully he was unsuccessful in accomplishing.

No one should blame SPLC for what happened at FRC headquarters last year. SPLC merely called out the fact that FRC was promoting hatred.

Corkins did more. He proved it.

On that day in which he walked into FRC headquarters, the organization met what its effort to promote hatred of gays had given birth to.

A demented child.



Boy Scouts delay decision as hate group leader gets destroyed on CNN' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

The somewhat bad news:

Utah Boy Scouts Council Achieves Delay In Consideration Of Anti-Gay Policy I say "somewhat" because until the decision is taken up again in May, we can hopefully expect scenes like the following:

 

To put it nicely, Soledad O'Brien treated FRC's Tony Perkins like she was the parent and he was her child whom she just caught misbehaving. It was brutal how she made him contradict himself. Now there are some who are still complaining as to why people like Tony Perkins are given interview time. If I said it once, I will say it a million times - an censored idea gains power, but an idea exposed as a lie loses power. And you can't expose lies by keeping those who tell them silent. WE NEED THIS DEBATE!  No matter how the Scouts rule in May, we have already won the battle of public opinion by letting the right dig themselves into a hyperbolic hole. And that victory will play out in other fights. So instead of whining, the lgt community needs to take charge. What folks need to do is ask where in the hell are HRC and GLAAD representatives in this mix? They need to get on these shows.

 In other news:  

Rios Claims Gay Men Are Child Predators by Nature - That's right suckers! Keep it up and help the lgbt community out.

 Anti-Gay, Anti-Immigrant, Birther Groups Join Forces to File Mother of All Prop 8 Briefs - I'm beginning to think that all of these organizations fear gay folks.  

UK Coalition for Marriage Puts NOM-Style Spin on Its Marriage Vote Defeat - Simply delicious.

Superbowl champion Brendon Ayanbadejo gives stunning defense of lgbt rights

I've heard a lot about this interview and, while I'm not one to fall for hype, I was impressed. Member of the Superbowl champions Baltimore Ravens and a strong ally/spokesman for the lgbt community Brendon Ayanbadejo simply rocks in this interview with Don Lemon: