Who’s Bigoted Now? Still Tony Perkins.

(Image from The Propaganda Remix Project)

If you wear rose-colored glasses, everything you look at seems rosy. If you are filled with hate, you see hate in everything you look at. Which of these scenarios describes Tony Perkins of the Fundie Research Council?

Hmm. Well he’s not wearing glasses.

One of his recent emails is titled “Who’s ‘Bigoted’ Now?”:

The homosexuals’ vicious reaction to the passing of Proposition 8 shows the movement’s sheer hypocrisy. The disgruntled Left calls supporters of traditional marriage “bigots.” But those who understand the meaning of “bigotry” and “civil rights” — African Americans — overwhelmingly supported the marriage amendments in California and Florida.

This is one of the biggest disappointments of this last election. I would think that a group that has been discriminated against for centuries would recognize discrimination when they saw it. I would also think that having had that experience would sensitize them to the unacceptability of discrimination in all its forms.

In response, white homosexual demonstrators have showered African Americans with racist epithets, revealing what one liberal blogger calls “the not-so-latent racism in our movement.”

Tony commits two errors in this sentence. His lesser offense is in not telling us who this alleged liberal blogger is. Tony calls Barack Obama, a moderate Democrat, a “radical”. I can hardly depend on Tony’s characterization of that blog. That makes the entire quote worthless, because we can’t know if its writer is qualified to detect the size and intensity of racism within the liberal population.

Tony’s greater offense is that he’s painting an entire group of people — liberals — with the claim that there is a large streak of racism within them. The racist incidents that occurred in the aftermath of Prop. 8 were few, compared with how many people voted against the discriminatory initiative. Just as Fred Phelps is not a fair representative of fundamentalism, a smattering of racist epithets is not a true representation of people who believe in equal rights.

Another liberal affirmed that marriage supporters…

No, the unnamed liberal that Tony quotes would not have called bigots like Tony “marriage supporters”. The true marriage supporters are the people who were opposed to Prop. 8, because it arbitrarily took away the right to marry from a group of people.

Returning to that paragraph:

Another liberal affirmed that marriage supporters [sic] “had a far more aggressive and systematic outreach to African American religious leaders and voters,” and FRC is proud to have played in a major role in that outreach through the voter registration and education efforts of our Church Ministries division.

Tony admits his guilt. But he is correct. Opponents of Prop. 8 made a number of mistakes, and insufficient outreach to minority communities seems to be one of them.

But It’s Really About Christian Persecution!

Now Tony cleverly brings his rant around to what is really bothering him:

Homosexual activists are also revealing their anti-religious bigotry, particularly in their attacks on Mormons, which have included calls to “tax the Mormon church”…

For somebody who is as much of a bigot as Tony Perkins, you’d think he’d be an expert on the subject. Apparently not. All of the anti-Mormon rhetoric of the last couple of weeks is due to the actions of the Mormon church. The complaints aren’t that they’re Mormon! It’s all about their behavior. It’s not bigotry when you express displeasure over somebody’s actions. The calls to “tax the Mormon church” are because it has proven itself to be a political body, and therefore not deserving of tax exemption.

…validating alarms FRC has raised about threats to religious liberty.

All this validates is Tony’s homophobia. If Tony were concerned about religious liberty, then he wouldn’t have supported a law that deprives churches of their right to marry same-sex couples. Although a minority, there are many churches that do approve of and conduct gay marriage ceremonies. This validates alarms that I have raised that the only religious freedom fundies care about is their own.

Those for same-sex “marriage” claim it is about same-sex couples having the same benefits as married couples.

“No”, Tony, “it’s” about “your” right “to” use “scare” quotes “anywhere” you “feel” like “it”.

I have said for years that it is not about the benefits.

That’s because Tony is afraid to hear about the benefits of homosexuality. He might find them appealing. Perhaps he’d like to look at a brochure:

Tony’s rant continues:

That was borne out in an FRC analysis showing that only 28% of same-sex couples in Connecticut have sought civil unions and the related benefits in the three years they have been offered…

I’m just guessing, but maybe that’s because a civil union isn’t the same thing as marriage. Or maybe there are other factors at play, such as fear of recording their relationship in public records in a conservative state like Connecticut, so fundies like Tony can target them. And how does Tony know how many gay couples there are in Connecticut? For all we know, Tony inflates the number to make it look like the percentage seeking benefits is lower. There’s really no way of knowing what is going on here, because any “analysis” that FRC does is hardly going to be a paragon of sociological research.

…and less than 20% of the same-sex couples in California have “married” in the months since California’s Supreme Court allowed them to.

Actually 20% is a large number, considering that it has only been six months. It takes time to plan a wedding.

These battles are not about “rights” or “benefits,”…

They’re about scare quotes!

…but about the forced affirmation of homosexuality itself…

If by “affirmation”, he means the acceptance by society that that’s just how some people are, and you can’t wish something away just because it makes you uncomfortable, then yes. It is about forced affirmation.

…and the eventual silencing of all who disapprove.

We’re not taking away Tony’s right to disapprove. There are still a few people out there who think emancipation was a bad idea, and they have every right to think that. They even have the right to speak it. Nobody is trying to silence anyone. What we are trying to do is remove the power of people like Tony to use the government to enforce their outdated beliefs upon society. One day, hopefully soon, people like Tony Perkins will be rare reminders of the hateful bigotries of our past.