1
1
1
The Throne Of The FRC by Google Images w/caption by Rev Dan
Right Wing Evangelical Christianity has a lot to answer for.
Accountability is not one of religion's strong suits: witness the reaction of
the Family Research Council to Dan Savage's charge:
On
Mike Huckabee's program:
Mike Huckabee: "I found Dan
Savage to be unnecessarily rude, vile, and angry. Just angry. He was not a
happy person and he just takes out his venom on other people, but he's gone to
a level I've never seen."
Perkins responded, "As my teenagers would say, he has some issues. He is a man
with some real deep-seated issues " and Dan Savage is nowhere near, he's a
hundred and eighty degrees from the positions that we have taken. It's wrong
and I will tell you this, we are pursuing everything possible to deal with him
because he is out of control."
Note that Perkins did not answer to the
responsibility the FRC has in teen suicides.
Refusal of culpability always leads to further investigation, and even though
the Christian Right counters such investigation with cries of
"PERSECUTION!", investigation is indeed necessary: a grain of truth
can be supplanted in everyone's mind and counter-actions must be taken.
Walking Backward: A Much Wider Sphere Of Hate And Destruction
Going back to the origins of demonizing gays and lesbians is, to some, like
going back to the Stone Age in America's Evangelical vs LGBT culture war, but
it must be done to give scope to the current battle. Perkins' demonizing is
following a tradition laid down by Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Jesse
Helms. So to get a clearer perspective it may be necessary to walk backwards -
to a time even before the Age of AIDS.
In November of 2010, The Family Research Council was
named a hate group by the
Southern Poverty Law Center. The reason: disseminating false information about
gays and lesbians in order to create animosity towards a specific group. Tony
Perkins, of course, hit the ceiling, but he had good company: the evangelical
American Family Association was also named a hate group. One strong reason for
this: the rhetoric of the AFA's Director Of Issues Analysis (whatever that
means), Bryan Fischer*. Fischer's celebrity stems from the fact that he has
denigrated not only gays, but Muslims, feminists and African-Americans.
In 1992, the Family Research Council came out
with a video, the Gay Agenda in which was cited the discredited research of
Paul Cameron. This video was widely distributed among evangelical church groups
and conservative organizations. In that same year, minister-turned politician
Mike Huckabee came out with the statement: "I feel [homosexuality] is
an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a
dangerous public health risk." He also suggested that AIDS patients should
be "isolated from the general population."**
From
1982 onward, the most favorite culture war battle cry was 'AIDS is a gay
plague." The demonizing that resulted from groups like the Southern
Baptist Convention is still far-reaching:
From OPEdNew s ( Demonizing America - Part 2: "Kill Them All! God Will
Take Care Of His Kind!"):
Probably the most obvious (and the most vicious) holdout as far as
demonizing PWAs is concerned is the powerful Southern Baptist Convention.
Almost thirty years after the start of the epidemic, the SBC still cannot point
to the sponsorship of any faith-based agency dealing with AIDS ...in this
country. ...Today, they still follow Jesse Helms dictum that helping AIDS
victims in Africa was fine because they were "all heterosexuals"
while all AIDS victims in America were perverted sodomites.
(Of
note: Tony Perkins is Southern Baptist and carries on its traditions extremely
well. In 1991, Mr. Perkins was cited during a political campaign for
failing to report that he had knowingly purchased the mailing list of former
KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.)
In
1980, the Traditional Values Coalition was formed by Rev. Lou Sheldon as a
bulwark against what it deemed a "deviant lifestyle."*** And although
discrimination against homosexuals had long been in place by the evangelical
community, the formation of the Coalition marked the first organized attempt to
demonize a group.
Body
Count
The
number of fatalities resulting from the demonizing of people like Tony Perkins
and the Family Research Council is impossible to calculate: to count the number
of pulpits, televangelists, hate groups and hell houses that have caused people
to be kicked out of their homes while they were sick and dying, that have
caused adult and teen suicides, that have caused people to be bashed and
killed, is incalculable. It is unknowable, because the nature of demonizing is
too insidious to calculate.
And
this is what Tony Perkins and his ilk count on: without direct cause and
effect, the Family Research Council will continue to going skipping merrily
down Unaccountable Lane.
*
Wikipedia: " In August, 2012, AFA Director
of Issue Analysis Bryan Fischer compared the children of gay parents to slaves,
tweeting that "we need an Underground Railroad to deliver innocent
children from same-sex households".
1 | 2
