Tony Perkins (Politician)



Tony Perkins is the President of the Conservative Christian hate group, the Family Research Council in Washington D.C. He is a former member of the Louisiana legislature where he served for eight years, and he is recognized as a legislative pioneer for authoring measures like the nation's first Covenant Marriage law. Although he had no opposition for re-election, he served only two terms and left office at the completion of his term in 2004. He was a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 2002. Since joining FRC in the fall of 2003 he has done all that he could to institutionalize the so called "Christian values" that he claims this nation is founded upon.

Family Research Council
In September 2003, Perkins dropped out from the race for Louisiana state insurance commissioner to become the President of the conservative Christian Family Research Council (FRC), a political offshoot of James Dobson's Focus On The Family. In addition to his duties as president of the FRC, Perkins hosts an online program, Washington Watch Daily on FRC Radio. Perkins was involved in the 2005 controversy over the disconnection of life support for Terri Schiavo, a woman who had been in a "persistent vegetative state" for a number of years. After a final court order permitted Schiavo's husband to remove her feeding tube and thereby cause her to die, Perkins stated,

"we should remember that her death is a symptom of a greater problem: that the courts no longer respect human life."

In October 2008, Perkins called the passage of California Proposition 8 (which prohibited marriage equality in the state)

"more important than the presidential election, we will not survive if we lose the institution of marriage."

Stance On LGBT Rights
In 2010, Perkins opposed the overturning of the "Don't ask, don't tell" law that prohibited people who were openly gay or lesbian from serving in the U.S. military. Perkins argued that the repeal would, among other things, infringe on the religious liberty of military chaplains and other service members holding orthodox Christian views. Perkins has criticized civil unions and has urged Congress to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would define marriage in the United States as the union between one man and one woman. He explained his reasoning in a 2006 Human Events column:

"The definition ... is rooted in the order of nature itself. It promotes the continuation of the human race and the cooperation of a mother and a father in raising the children they produce. This union can only be protected through amending the United States Constitution. If it's not, activists will continue using the courts to sell a five-legged dog."

In 2011 Perkins bashed the "It Gets Better" campaign,

'''“The videos are titled 'It Gets Better.' They are aimed at persuading kids that although they'll face struggles and perhaps bullying for 'coming out' as homosexual (or transgendered or some other perversion), life will get better. …It's disgusting. And it's part of a concerted effort to persuade kids that homosexuality is okay and actually to recruit them into that lifestyle." '''

In May 2012, Tony Perkins appeared on Hardball to defend comments he made about children not becoming gay if they are raised "the right ways to interact as human beings." Congressman Barney Frank entered the debate swinging, immediately asking Perkins if he thought former Vice President Dick Cheney and wife Lynne had moral failings as parents because they raised a lesbian daughter. Frank's first punch left Perkins stunned and speechless.



Courtesy Of MSNBC

In 2013 Perkins argued on the Washington Watch that gays and lesbians will never be fulfilled in life because society will never accept homosexuality as “morally right” since “it’s not healthy” for “society and for the individuals.”

He also stated tht Massachusetts schools will soon see “teenage boys invading girls’ locker rooms.” He blamed the new policy on the 2004 legalization of same-sex marriage in the state, which he said led to “the fundamental altering of society,” and called on parents “to protect your kids from a fate like Massachusetts’s” by opposing marriage equality.