Does anyone remember that comedy movie Airplane and the scene with the hysterical woman? The stewardess kept slapping her to calm her down. Since she was unsuccessful, another stewardess took over. And then another one. Pretty soon, a line forms behind the stewardess of people who will take their turn in attempting to calm down the hysterical woman. One man is wearing boxing gloves. One woman has a tire iron in her hand. Another woman has a gun. And so on and so on.
I was reminded of that scene because of an interview that CNN's Brooke Baldwin conducted with the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins. Now Perkins has been having a rough time recently during news interviews. He was called to the carpet on his anti-gay distortions by CNN's Soledad O'Brien and then was further knocked on his ass on MSNBC's Hardball by Congressman Barney Frank with a little assist from host Christ Matthews.
And now Baldwin seems to want to get a piece of the action. She not only takes Perkins to task but asks him point blank about his homophobia and the fact that he doesn't know any same-sex families. Of course there was room for some improvement. When Perkins goes on a tangent about what his children are taught in schools and such, I wished Baldwin would have reminded him that gay couples have children also. Still seeing Perkins squirm in the morass of his lies was satisfying.
What also should have been pointed out is that there is really is little to no research comparing how well children do with same sex parents, married or not, versus a "mom and a dad". All Perkins has to rely on are studies of single parents versus a two straight parents. If they had the studies that Perkins claims, they would have been cited in the Prop 8 trial. As we saw in that trial, not only did they not have the studies to back them up, people like Perkins and Gallagher did not dare to take the stand for fear of perjuring themselves.
ReplyDeleteHe is so beyond full of crap. Religious institution have lost their tax exempt status because they did not allow same sex marriage to be carried out there? What complete moronic drivel. This guy needs to come out of the closet and start his life anew...
ReplyDeleteSoledad O'Brien is with CNN, not MSNBC.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog!
Whoops! Thanks for the catch and for supporting my blog ;p
ReplyDeleteWhy do gays always ask for straight haters to "come out" and live their new life. Being gay is not a choice. You cannot just choose to be gay all of a sudden.
ReplyDeleteTony perkins is not gay, he's just filled with hate and ignorance. There's obviously a difference.
Really? I thought it was another softball lobbing session where he was allowed to spew his lies without being challenged.
ReplyDeleteBrava Brooke Baldwin!! Though not perfect (who is?), she has set a new standard. In time, mainstream interviewers will become more educated about the "talking points" and the "research," and be able to respond better. I think we are seeing some of the results of GLAAD-CAP already.
ReplyDeleteTony Perkins actually said on tape: "There are some same-sex couples that are probably GREAT parents."
ReplyDeleteIt kills me when he said "we're seeing the marriage rate drop". So his underlying message is: if gays can get married, the straights will stop getting married. What an ass-hat!
ReplyDelete