Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative Family Research Council (FRC), has equated Gay
Pride to celebrating adultery, media watchdog RightWingWatch.org
reported.
During a guest stint for Sandy Rios on
American Family Association (AFA) radio, Perkins denied a caller
named J.R.'s claim that the religious right was ignoring societal
ills such as alcoholism and adultery while promoting misconceptions
about LGBT people.
“The month of June is Gay Pride
month. Now, I have not yet seen where they have declared Adultery
Pride month, I have not seen where they have declared the Drunkenness
Pride month. Here's the issue, J.R. it's not a matter of whether or
not someone can do what they want to do with their lives, God gave
Adam and Eve a choice, but that's not what we're talking about here,”
Perkins said.
“We're talking about redefining the
rest of culture and making others both embrace, celebrate and
subsidize. We're talking about changing the laws that will influence
what our children are taught in schools, it's already happening in
those states that have legalized same-sex marriage or had it forced
upon them by the courts. We're talking about religious organizations
losing their religious freedom, that's already happened, church
facilities in New Jersey have lost their tax exemption because they
refused to allow their facilities to be used for same-sex commitment
ceremonies. We're seeing issues of public accommodations where
because of the passage of these laws people can depending on what
sexual orientation they may have at a given time can use whatever
public facility they want. So, these are issues, it's being pushed.”
“So it's not that these other issues
are being ignored or that they're not important, you're absolutely
right J.R., whether it's adultery, whether it's any type of sexual
immorality it's a problem, but we're not celebrating those other
forms as a society, we're not promoting it and teaching it as normal
in our schools.”
Perkins told another caller who
supported his viewpoint that “when it comes to drunkenness, we have
laws to try to protect the rest of society.”