Family Research Council Criticizes Senate for Putting Social Agenda Ahead of Military Mission
December 23, 2010Family Research Council (FRC) today criticized the vote by the U.S. Senate to pass cloture for a bill that sets in motion a repeal of the 1993 law on homosexuality in the military, commonly referred to as "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," which codified the prohibition on homosexual conduct in the armed forces that has existed since the nation began.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins issued the following statement following the vote: "Today is a tragic day for our armed forces. The American military exists for only one purpose – to fight and win wars. Yet it has now been hijacked and turned into a tool for imposing on the country a radical social agenda. This may advance the cause of reshaping social attitudes regarding human sexuality, but it will only do harm to the military’s ability to fulfill its mission. "It is shameful that the Democratic leadership, aided by Republican Senators, has forced through such a radical change in a lame-duck session of Congress. The 1993 law which is to be repealed was adopted only after months of debate and at least a dozen Congressional hearings. The repeal has been forced through only eighteen days after the Pentagon released a massive report, which raised more questions than it answered on the impact the overturning of this policy will have on our nation’s military."
"It is clear why this was done: not to enhance the military’s ability to accomplish its mission or to enhance national security. Rather, it is a political payoff to a tiny, but loud and wealthy, part of the Democratic base. They knew that the Congress elected last month would never adopt such legislation – certainly not without a more thoughtful and deliberative process. "We thank Senators John McCain, James Inhofe, Jeff Sessions and Jim DeMint, as well as all of those who voted to support our troops over advancing a liberal social agenda. These senators fought hard for our men and women in uniform, and their efforts will not be forgotten."
| Mission Statement: Family Research Council [FRC] champions marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society. FRC shapes public debate and formulates public policy that values human life and upholds the institutions of marriage and the family. Believing that God is the author of life, liberty, and the family, FRC promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society. |
It’s not much of a Holiday Season topic, but I just wanted to register the reaction of the Family Research Council to the repeal of DADT. This particular group, a spin off from James Dobson’s Focus on the Family was declared a "Hate Group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center [who track the Klan, White Supremists, and other hate groups] earlier this year.
| Southern Poverty Law Canter: The Family Research Council [FRC] bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power,” but its real specialty is defaming gays and lesbians. The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, FRC employs a number of “policy experts” whose “research” has allowed FRC to be extremely active politically in shaping public debate. Its research fellows and leaders often testify before Congress and appear in the mainstream media. It also works at the grassroots level, conducting outreach to pastors in an effort to “transform the culture.” |
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In Its Own Words:
• “Gaining access to children has been a long-term goal of the homosexual movement.”
— Robert Knight, FRC director of cultural studies, and Frank York, 1999 • “[Homosexuality] … embodies a deep-seated hatred against true religion.”
— Steven Schwalm, FRC senior writer and analyst, in “Desecrating Corpus Christi,” 1999 • “One of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets of a new sexual order.’”
—1999 FRC pamphlet, Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex with Boys. • “[T]he evidence indicates that disproportionate numbers of gay men seek adolescent males or boys as sexual partners.”
— Timothy Dailey, senior research fellow, “Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse,” 2002 • “While activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. … It is a homosexual problem.”
— FRC President Tony Perkins, FRC website, 2010 |
Frankly, I thought it was one of the important things that happened this year. The Family Research Council is usually seen as part of the Conservative Religious Right. It is, in fact, a much more virulent organization. Its leader, Tony Perkins, was a minor politician in Louisiana who was connected to David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan. As president, he has been a conduit for the paranoid notion that the fight for Homosexual Rights is a front for the radical social agenda to recruit people into homosexuality, to legalize and promote pedophillia, to undermine the institution of marriage, to destroy religion, etc. The only thing that distinguishes his rhetoric from the white supremists is his suit and boyish smile. He regularly jumps on the bandwagon for their other issues – like immigration. The only real connection to religion in his diatribes is his use of the term "judeo-christian world view."
The article above is typical for Perkins, "… it is a political payoff to a tiny, but loud and wealthy, part of the Democratic base." He’s hypothesizing a group of super-rich homosexuals who are in cahoots with the Democratic Party – bartering future campaign contributions to advance their conspiracy to degrade American morality. Where does that come from? His organization regularly makes such claims, "One of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets of a new sexual order." And don’t forget that one of the founders of the FRC was the now infamous George Rekers – Reverend Rent·A·Boy.
So what’s with Pat Robertson advocating the decriminalization of marijuana? He sounds very sensible, and that makes me suspicious:
“I’m … I’m not exactly for the use of drugs, don’t get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kinda thing it’s just, it’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people. Young people go into prisons, they go in as youths and come out as hardened criminals. That’s not a good thing.”
I’m just very suspicious when one of these guys sounds reasonable. I mean this is the same Pat Robertson who blamed gay people for 9/11, who said the forest fires in Florida were God’s punishment for Orlando allowing “Gay Day at Disney World” flags on its streets.
Robertson’s never been as mean and hateful as Tony Perkins — just kind of looney.
Robertson’s a clown. Perkins is cancer…