Deconstructing a Single ‘Gay’ Activist Lie: GLAAD Distorts Tony Perkins’ Words

Tony Perkins debating Barney Frank on MSNBC. The Homosexual Lobby is pushing hard to discredit Perkins, even twisting his words to make him appear hateful and irrational. They are lobbying media NOT to have him on as a guest. (They do the same to AFTAH and other groups opposing the “gay” activist agenda.) There remain two sides to the homosexuality debate. Journalistic balance and fairness require that media not cave in to homosexual activist pressure, nor rely on biased LGBT misinformation specifically crafted to marginalize Christian conservative leaders.

By Peter LaBarbera

In our recent post of “20 Resolutions” for pro-family advocates battling the “gay” activist agenda in 2013, Number 6 is: “Recognize, dismiss and counter homosexual activists’ lies and propaganda.” One common homosexual activist deception is to transform any criticism of homosexual behavior or “gay” activism into a general attack on “gay people.”

You will note from the video below how the leading homosexual activist media-lobbying group, GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), twists Family Research Council President Tony Perkins’ words. Speaking at a May 3, 2001 conference, Perkins said:

“Those that understand the homosexual community — the activists — they are very aggressive … everything they accuse us of they are in triplicate. They’re [intolerant], they’re hateful, they’re vile, they’re spiteful…Our response to them should be one of love and of compassion….We’ve got to be very careful to guard our hearts — that we in the midst of this battle don’t become so [callous], that we realize they’re not the enemy. The enemy is simply using them as pawns. They are held captive by the enemy….”

Now look at how GLAAD mischaracterizes the above quotation on its website page attempting to discredit Perkins as a media commentator:

Here is the short Perkins video courtesy of People For the American Way’s  (PFAW) “Right Wing Watch” (which, unlike GLAAD, actually correctly describes Perkins as talking about homosexual “activists”) [YouTube URL: http://youtu.be/hfNVgJ4rwMo]:

GLAAD’s Goal: Make Perkins Look Mean and Hateful

As you can see, GLAAD’s skewed summary is a quantum leap of distortion that actually defames Perkins, which is ironic considering that GLAAD purports to be an “anti-defamation” organization. By alleging as a “fact” that Perkins — a committed Christian — was calling (all) “gay people” vile, intolerant, etc., GLAAD manages to completely turn upside-down Tony’s pastoral heart and redemptive purpose for homosexuals as laid out in his 2011 presentation.

Christians believe that homosexual behavior — unequivocally condemned by the Bible — is sinful, and that all people practicing, defending and promoting sin are doing “the enemy’s” (read: Satan’s) work. There is no exception for homosexuals to this universal spiritual principle — just as there is no special right for Christians to hate homosexuals any more than they would hate people engaged in any other sin. As much as the maxim is loathed by the Secular Left, it is true: faithful Christians do “hate the sin, but love the sinner.” This attitude is revealed in Perkins’ concern for the souls of homosexuals as laid out in his speech.

In truth, Perkins used those words — intolerant, hateful, vile, spiteful — to describe homosexual activists’ behavior. And surely Tony — like this writer — knows of what he speaks when he exposes the extreme and often vicious conduct of homosexual activists. As the head of the leading pro-family think tank in Washington, D.C., he specifically has been a target of considerable “gay” activist hatred, intolerance and, yes, vile smears — all designed to marginalize him as a pro-family expert and leader.

Is Perkins exaggerating?

Homosexual activist Dan Savage.

If you question Perkins’ judgment in using such strong adjectives, consider his mistreatment at the hands of homosexual militant Dan Savage, who in at least two recent speeches outrageously accused Perkins and the organization he leads of wanting homosexual youth to commit suicide — ostensibly to back up Perkins’ assertion that higher suicide levels among homosexual youth show that the homosexual lifestyle is unhealthy and dangerous.”They would rather stand on a pile of dead gay children than lose that talking point,” Savage said regarding Perkins and Family Research Council. In the Q-and-A session following Savage’s Elmhurst speech, I corrected him before a hostile crowd by asserting that Perkins does not hate homosexuals and especially does not wish harm to come to homosexual youth. Savage did not back down on his preposterous claim.

With regard to “vile” and “spiteful” conduct, consider the same Savage’s website, “SpreadingSantorum,” in which he “redefines” the former GOP presidential contender and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s last name as follows:

Santorum (San-TOR-um) n. — The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.

Interestingly, Savage continues to be invited on to major media outlets as a guest (and he hosts his own show on MTV) despite his extensive record of antics and rhetoric that can objectively be described as hateful.

Destroying Conservative Reputations: GLAAD’s Media War

GLAAD feeds its “Commentator Accountability Project” reports on Perkins and other social conservative leaders [here is the GLAAD page on this writer] to “mainstream” journalists to dissuade them from being invited as guests or interview subjects. The homosexual activist campaign — which relies heavily on “gay” bloggers and leftist groups like PFAW — is especially focused on Perkins as the most prominent major pro-family activist opposed to the LGBT Lobby.

Every time Perkins is booked for a show — say Chris Matthews’ “Hardball” — GLAAD and its homosexual allies flood the media outlet with the alleged “facts” on Perkins’s “anti-gay” record. As you can see, those facts are sometimes false or twisted — or bereft of context that contradicts the LGBT Lobby’s narrative of Perkins as a hateful, unloving and irrational bigot.

The question is: who is holding GLAAD accountable? How many rushed journalists — relying on the “anti-defamation” organization as reputable source despite GLAAD’s sloppiness and extreme ideological bias — have glanced at the summary sheet on Perkins and winced at his supposed comment calling “gay people” vile, spiteful, etc.?

The media must recognize that GLAAD and allied homosexual activists are ideologues on a crusade to destroy the reputations of pro-family Christians who speak out against LGBT advocacy. They are far from impartial, dispassionate sources of “fact.” Furthermore, insofar as homosexual militants posit adherents of historic, Judeo-Christian teaching on homosexuality as purveyors of “anti-gay hate” and un-American bigotry, they themselves evince anti-religious prejudice.

Here is how GLAAD described its “Commentator Accountability Project” (CAP) when it was launched last March:

“The Commentator Accountability Project is bringing all of these statements to light, while calling attention to the sentiments behind them. We will show that the commentators who are most often asked to opine on issues like marriage equality or non-discrimination protections do not accurately represent the “other side” of those issues. They represent nothing but extreme animus towards the entire LGBT community.”

Lessons for the Media

Apparently to buttress its claim that conservative and Christian opponents of homosexuality should be dropped from “mainstream media” broadcasts due to their “extreme animus,” GLAAD manufactured some “animus” out of thin air. This article dissects just a single GLAAD distortion, but it is ominous that GLAAD is so reckless in its quest to malign Perkins.

Reporters, editors and producers who are taught to be skeptical of activists’ partisan claims need to remember:

1. LGBT activists represent just one side of a complex debate over the nature and morality of homosexuality, as well as “gay”-agenda goals like “same-sex marriage” and pro-homosexual programs in schools. Media are obligated to cover both sides of this debate fairly;
2. The GLAAD commentator summaries and related left-leaning and LGBT projects aimed at discrediting pro-family conservatives — especially the Southern Poverty Law Center, which cynical labels of FRC, AFTAH and other leading pro-family organizations as “hate groups” on a par with fringe racists — cannot be regarded as neutral information sources. Much of what they produce is calculated to discredit and marginalize their foes. Moreover, their entire enterprise is suspect because it ridiculously equates sincere religious people espousing biblical values on sex and marriage with genuine “haters,” e.g., despicable racists like the KKK;
3. In many instances, homosexual activists like Dan Savage and  Wayne Besen [head of the oddly named “Truth Wins Out”; see this particularly nasty post], and homosexual activist organizations like Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, have behaved in an extreme, hateful and/or bigoted manner toward people of faith who oppose the LGBT movement. [Listen HERE as Besen — a fanatical foe of “ex-gays” and former HRC spokesman — arrogantly smears this writer as “Porno Pete” repeatedly on air during a 2011 radio debate; the same Besen recently was heard on CNN discussing “civility.”] These activists should not get a pass from the media merely because they are on the side of political correctness. Indeed, the very lack of media accountability for extremists like Besen and Savage encourages them to go further in their scurrilous attacks on people of faith.