Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Hate group leader Tony Perkins claims that Franklin Graham is not a homophobe. And the word 'irony' loses all meaning

Due to a controversy regarding his organization helping to fight the coronavirus pandemic in New York, Franklin Graham appeared on Fox News to play the victim and claim that he is not homophobic. What ensued next was a lovely pulling out of receipts, i.e. the revelation of statements from Graham and videos starring Graham attacking LGBTQ people, families, and voicing support for Putin's violent repression of LGBTQ Russians. Yes, I was involved and it was wonderful. But some folks did come to Graham's defense. 

Most specifically, the Family Research Council and its president Tony Perkins, came to Graham's defense:


When Franklin Graham set up a 68-bed field hospital in the middle New York City's Central Park, he didn't hang a sign saying, "Christian Patients Only." But somehow, the state's extremists think it's okay to demand only pro-LGBT caregivers on his staff. Samaritan's Purse, liberals argue, isn't tolerant enough to treat the sick. In a tweet so offensive it's difficult to believe he holds public office, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman (D) said, "It's a shame that the federal government has left New York with no other choice but to accept charity from bigots."
 
What a luxury it must be to criticize people in the trenches, while you sit in the safety of your home. Samaritan's Purse is risking its volunteers' lives to be on the front lines, at great expense to the organization, treating whomever the hospital sends them. Do you think these patients, a lot of them in desperate need of help, care who their doctors voted for in the last election? No. They just want to survive -- like the other 110,000 people infected in New York City.
 
If Senator Hoylman is so worried about politically-correct care, then where is his relief effort? The truth is, the only reason he has time to attack Franklin's virus responders is because his colleagues aren't on the ground meeting New Yorkers' needs. But then, that's what we've come to expect from the far Left. These liberal activists are more concerned about their agenda than actual people. We've seen it in the adoption debate, the foster care debate, and now in the medical debate. If the choice is between a Christian organization helping someone or the person getting no help at all, we already know what they'd choose: children without homes and patients without care.


Perkins continues on this absurd narrative without mentioning that Graham's past  homophobic statements was what helped to give folks pause.  And on that same note, one would think that Perkins and FRC would have been wise to not dip into the situation with their attempt to defend Graham.  Because neither FRC nor Perkins have room to talk. 

Particularly when one of FRC's spokespeople, Peter Sprigg, once expressed a desire for gays to be kicked out of  the country:



And Perkins himself is no slouch when it comes to homophobic statements. In 2014, he made a Holocaust reference by implying that gays want to put Christians in boxcars and take them to "re-education camps."

He also claimed that LGBTQ people are "recruiting" children, made a false comparison between homosexuality and pedophilia, and vouched for discredited "ex-gay" therapy - the pseudo scientific belief that LGBTQ people can be transformed to heterosexuals.

In 2010, he defended an anti-LGBTQ bill from Uganda which would have seen LGBTQ people in that country imprisoned or put to death for their sexual orientation. During the same time frame, the Family Research Council lobbied against a Congressional resolution which would have denounced the bill. In 2012, Perkins praised Uganda's homophobic leader Yoweri Museveni as the Ugandan Parliament revived the bill under his (Museveni's) direction.

And then there's the time in 2011 in which he claimed that gays are "pawns" of "the  enemy," i.e. Satan:



In addition, the Family Research Council itself is a hotbed of junk science and cherry-picked science taken out of context to denigrate LGBTQ people. For these reasons and so many others, the Southern Poverty Law Center rightfully designated FRC as a hate group.

The very idea of FRC and Perkins attempting to defend Graham from charges of homophobia is a cross between an absurdity and a parody. Either way, I enjoy pulling out more receipts. It makes me feel so complete. But damn, Perkins. 

You're not supposed to make it so easy.


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