Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative Family Research Council (FRC), has accepted a
lesbian couple's invitation to dinner.
Perkins, an opponent of gay marriage,
last week told CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin that he had never been to
the house of a gay or lesbian married couple.
“We don't make public policy based on
what's good for me and my family or you and your family,” Perkins
answered a follow up question on how he would convince the couple
that allowing them to marry would hurt the marriages of straight
couples.
(Related: FRC's
Tony Perkins asked why he dislikes gay people.)
The exchange prompted Jennifer
Chrisler, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Family
Equality Council, which supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender families, to invite Perkins to the home she shares with
her wife and two boys.
Appearing on CNN, Chrisler said she
hoped the visit would soften Perkins' feelings on gay rights.
“I don't think that I'll change his
mind. But I do think that we might be able to open his heart a
little bit. And I've had this conversation with lots of people who
may not be in the same place that I am about these issues and I hope
maybe we can move him just a little bit,” she said. (The video is
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