Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative Family Research Council (FRC), argues in a
press release that Facebook caved into totalitarian activists in
banning posts promoting therapies that attempt to alter the sexual
orientation or gender identity of people who identify as LGBT.
Such therapies go by names such as
“conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy,” “sexual
orientation change efforts” or “ex-gay therapy.”
Last week, Facebook announced that
content that promotes or advertises conversation therapy would be
banned from Facebook and Instagram, which it owns.
Facebook said that it would expand its
existing policies on hate speech worldwide to include such content.
“We don't allow attacks against
people based on sexual orientation or gender identity and are
updating our policies to ban the promotion of conversion therapy
services,” Instagram said in a statement.
The announcement comes after LGBT
activists called for the removal of an Instagram account used by Core
Issues Trust, which promotes such therapies. Instagram said that it
had removed some content from the account.
In a press release, Perkins, a vocal
opponent of LGBT rights who works closely with the Republican Party,
said that Facebook had caved into totalitarian activists.
“Everyone is entitled to information,
Facebook has argued. Except, maybe, people struggling with their
sexuality,” Perkins wrote. “Mark Zuckerberg’s platform, along
with its subsidiary Instagram, may be trying to keep those hurting
users from getting the information they’re looking for.”
“Like others beholden to the
far-Left, social media moguls don’t want to admit that change is
possible because it undermines the whole linchpin of their LGBT
activist friends: that being gay or transgender isn’t a choice. So,
they ratchet up their misinformation machines, insisting that all
counseling is torture.”
“Media organizations should resist
the increasingly totalitarian demands of LGBT activists that they
censor all opposing viewpoints. Neither democracy nor science can
thrive without a free exchange of ideas,” he added.