The chairman of a powerful, ultra-conservative Republican House committee sees a link between Monday’s riots in Baltimore and same-sex marriage.Â

The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a powerful group of 170 U.S. Congressmen who formulated and advocate for extremist policies and legislation, often to please their corporateÂ donors. As a group, they focus on reducing federal spending while increasing defense spending, and “protecting” so-called traditional marriage the Second Amendment. Its members are closely tied to anti-gay organizations including Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, andÂ Concerned Women for America, along withÂ the NRA, the Heritage Foundation, and the usual Koch Brothers-funded groups.

In 2013, the National Journal labeled the RSC “The cabal that quietly took over theÂ House,” writing, “For 40 years, the Republican Study Committee has prized ideological purity over partisan loyalty. That mindset now dominates the GOP.”

The Chairman of theÂ Republican Study Committee is Bill Flores, U.S. Congressman from Texas, who, as you can see from the photo above, spent Tuesday morning on the steps of the U.S. Supreme CourtÂ addressing a small but vocal crowd of same-sex marriage opponents.

Speaking in support of “traditional marriage,” Rep. Flores told the crowd of a few dozen that the “majority of Americans â€“ 61% – agree that states should be able to uphold this definition without the federal government or courts interfering.”

What Rep. Flores appeared to do was to take last week’s poll that found 61 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage and turn it around to prop up his claim. (NCRM could find no polling to support the Congressman’s figures.)

That was Tuesday morning. Late Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Flores sat down withÂ Family Research Council president Tony Perkins to expand upon his comments on the courthouse steps.

Stunningly, Flores managed to link the riots and violence on Monday night in Baltimore with same-sex marriage.

Perkins claimed that “a lot of these problems” federal lawmakers have to deal with are cause by “the breakdown of the family, which the redefinition of would only accelerate.”

Flores was only too happy to jump on that bandwagon.

“You’re exactly right Tony,” Flores said.Â “The single best indicator of whether or not a child is going to be in poverty or not is whether or not they were raised by a two-parent household or a single parent household, so the breakdown of the family has contributed to poverty,” the Texas Congressman claimed.

Congressman Flores somehow did not remember to mention the hundreds of thousands of children who are being raised by same-sex couples. And those studies he bases his claim upon do not state “mother and father” when they refer toÂ two-parent households.Â

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“Look at what is going on in Baltimore today, you see the issues that are raised there. Healthy marriages are the ones between a man and a woman because they can have a healthy family and they can raise children in a way thatâ€™s best for their future, not only socially but psychologically, economically, from a health perspective. There is nothing like traditional marriage that does that for a child. Each of us have a mother and a father and there is no way to get around that.”

Of course, Rep. Flores’ claim that “there is nothing like traditional marriage that does that for a child,” is demonstrably false.

Listen:

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Image via Twitter

Hat tip and audio:Â Right Wing Watch

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