Via press release and
posted publicly to the Southern Poverty Law Center website. From SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potak:
Yesterday’s
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 SPLC’s criticisms of the FRC and the FRC’s
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.
Right on, SPLC!
Reposted from Joe
Via press release and posted publicly to the Southern Poverty Law Center website. From SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potak: 
No comments:
Post a Comment