Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative Family Research Council (FRC), has criticized
an executive order that prohibits federal contractors from
discriminating against LGBT workers.
President Barack Obama signed the order
on Monday.
(Related: Obama
on banning gay discrimination: We're on the right side of history.)
Perkins, a long-time opponent of gay
rights, blasted the order, saying Obama had placed an undue burden on
contractors.
“This action is wrong on the merits,
because it accepts the premise that distinctions based on actual
conduct – such as homosexual behavior and cross-dressing – should
be treated the same way as distinctions based on immutable and
innocuous characteristics like race,” Perkins
said in a blog post. “This order gives activists a license to
challenge their employers and, expose those contracted employers to
threats of costly legal proceedings and the potential of jeopardizing
future contracts. The order further burdens contractors by stripping
away their right to set dress and grooming standards. All this
amounts to viewpoint blackmail and bullies into silence those
contractors and subcontractors who have moral objections to
homosexual behavior. This morning President Obama told the assembled
group of activists, 'We're on the right side of history.' Mr.
President, being on the wrong side of the natural law is never being
on the right side of history. The President is placing at risk not
only faith-driven employers but religious groups such as relief
organizations which sometimes put government dollars to work in
uniquely effective ways. The President's refusal to completely
exempt religious businesses from this executive order betrays his
true agenda – forcing his own conformist views upon everyone else,
and making America less free in the process.”
(Related: Todd
Starnes: Obama “hell-bent on forcing Christians” to accept
“militant LGBT agenda.”)