House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's
call for tolerance on gay rights has been criticized the Christian
conservative group Family Research Council (FRC).
In an interview last week with
BuzzFeed.com,
Cantor, a Virginia Republican, argued that diversity of opinion and
acceptance are American ideals.
“There can't be some kind of
monolithic opinion handed down from the government or a political
party,” he said. “I don't think we're monolithic beings.”
Cantor agreed that the Republican Party
needed to do a better job reaching out to voters who do not align
with the party's official position on marriage equality and other
social issues.
“I've always said we need to be a
party of inclusion not exclusion,” he said. “We need to be
promoting tolerance and, you know, as someone who is a religious
minority, I sort of grew up with having that mindset, knowing full
well that I am in a very distinct way from a religious background,
separate and apart from the mainstream of this country.”
“And it's that tolerance, I think
that tolerance is something that enables people to be passionate
about their positions. And if you're for gay marriage, this country
allows you to express your views. Some states support it and allow
it, and others don't. But it's ok to have that difference of opinion
in that,” he said.
Writing at the FRC's
Blog, Tom McClusky called Cantor's call for tolerance
“culturecide.”
“[T]olerance should not mean
acceptance,” McClusky wrote. “The 'politically correct
tolerance' attitude that is followed by too many in our establishment
society allows for embracing of individuals who attack Christians
with vile and, in the case of the left's poster boy for tolerance Dan
Savage, with literal spit and bile. This same tolerance then seeks
to demonize those who embrace that marriage is between one man and
one woman – such as the attacks on Chick-Fil-A President Dan
Cathy.”