One of the big take-aways of the post I wrote earlier is “Tony Perkins covered it up.”

Perkins knew what Goodman did at the time. He also mentioned “other similar incidents” in his 2015 letter.

He told the victim’s stepfather “Trust me… this will not be ignored nor swept aside.” And then he did nothing other than kick Goodman out of his organization.

He didn’t go to the authorities. He didn’t tell voters when Goodman was a candidate for the state legislature. He didn’t even tell people who later worked for Goodman.

Maybe he thought that “counseling” and prayer would work – he apparently believes that ex-gay conversion therapy works so he’s definitely gullible on that front.

Maybe, as a conservative, Perkins didn’t think that “big government” was the solution. It’s not that far-fetched; conservatives forget their “law and order” side when it comes to crimes usually perpetrated by people in positions of power, like sexual harassment. Since the right spends so much time arguing that victims of sexual assault are liars, I doubt they put their leaders through decent training on the subject.

Maybe he thought that Goodman was a rising star in the GOP and he didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize a Republican politician’s career.

Or maybe he just didn’t care.

Who knows. But it does make Perkins’s statement about Roy Moore, who has been accused by multiple women of aggressive and inappropriate behavior with teenagers, a lot less believable.

The allegations reported by the media against Roy Moore are beyond disturbing and, if true, would disqualify him or anyone else engaged in such behavior from holding a position of public trust. — Tony Perkins (@tperkins) November 10, 2017

But what Goodman did doesn’t disqualify him?

The big difference between the two cases – besides the fact that Moore went after girls while Goodman went after boys – is that Perkins could have done something about Goodman. And he didn’t.

It’s something to think about the next time Perkins is on TV saying that gay people cause child abuse: when it actually mattered, he didn’t do anything.