General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSouthern Poverty Law Center's brilliant response to Family Research Council's spurious claims
Editors Note: The following statement may be attributed to Mark Potok, Senior Fellow of the Southern Poverty Law Center and editor of its Intelligence Report and Hatewatch blog.Yesterdays attack on the Family Research Council and the shooting of a security guard there was a tragedy. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) deplores all violence, and our thoughts are with the wounded victim, Leo Johnson, his family and others who lived through the attack.
For more than 40 years, the SPLC has battled against political extremism and political violence. We have argued consistently that violence is no answer to problems in a democratic society, and we have strongly criticized all those who endorse such violence, whether on the political left or the political right.
But this afternoon, FRC President Tony Perkins attacked the SPLC, saying it had encouraged and enabled the attack by labeling the FRC a hate group. The attacker, Floyd Corkins, was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center, Perkins said. I believe the Southern Poverty Law Center should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology.
Perkins accusation is outrageous. The SPLC has listed the FRC as a hate group since 2010 because it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda about LGBT people not, as some claim, because it opposes same-sex marriage. The FRC and its allies on the religious right are saying, in effect, that offering legitimate and fact-based criticism in a democratic society is tantamount to suggesting that the objects of criticism should be the targets of criminal violence.
As the SPLC made clear at the time and in hundreds of subsequent statements and press interviews, we criticize the FRC for claiming, in Perkins words, that pedophilia is a homosexual problem an utter falsehood, as every relevant scientific authority has stated. An FRC official has said he wanted to export homosexuals from the United States. The same official advocated the criminalizing of homosexuality.
Perkins and his allies, seeing an opportunity to score points, are using the attack on their offices to pose a false equivalency between the SPLCs criticisms of the FRC and the FRCs criticisms of LGBT people. The FRC routinely pushes out demonizing claims that gay people are child molesters and worse claims that are provably false. It should stop the demonization and affirm the dignity of all people.
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/08/16/splc-family-research-council-license-to-kill-claim-outrageous/
Cha
(297,692 posts)FACTS!
JackBeck
(12,359 posts)where all these right-wing hate groups have been trying to make themselves out to be the 'victims'.
Makes me want to vomit.
Cha
(297,692 posts)Bully Bully Bully and then start whining when called out with facts.
Romney is the perfect candidate for president of the Liars' Club.
JackBeck
(12,359 posts)Tony Perkins is spinning this faster than when he had to explain why he bought former Klan chieftain David Duke's mailing list.
zbdent
(35,392 posts)it can't be a "lone wolf" ... or a "mentally-disturbed individual", right?
freshwest
(53,661 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)[font size=4]''Tony Perkins is a goddamned liar.''[/font]
- That is all.
K&R
JackBeck
(12,359 posts)SPLC is just too kind to call it for what it is, which is where we are all on the same page.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)And 3 more...
GO FUCK YOURSELF !!!
& Rec !!!
Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)Very, very good place to donate.
JackBeck
(12,359 posts)Skraxx
(2,982 posts)Is it just me?
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)When they have not only opposed them, but contributed to hate crimes. Hypocrites!
JackBeck
(12,359 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)hate group? How quaint and oh how special that is.
GEOpix
(65 posts)A textual ass kicking!
libodem
(19,288 posts)Consists of three families, two hick cousins, and a spinster aunt. They are squat. All mouth.
Archae
(46,347 posts)"The mean ol' SPLC and Obama is picking on us! Can you send money?"