Tony Perkins. We’ve all wanted to give him a piece of our mind — and we’ve all wondered what pieces are missing from his. A rabidly antigay zealot, the leader of Family Research Council is a highly vocal opponent of marriage equality who thinks musicals are nothing but homosexual propaganda. He’s also convinced queers will destroy the military by 2034.
Related: Watch Donald Trump Admit Antigay Tony Perkins Helped Write His Latest Speech
Not that his insanity has gone unheeded by the world at large — at least, not lately. Last week, his scheduled appearance to discuss the Orlando massacre on ABC’s “The Week” was abruptly cancelled after viewers complained that he headed a hate group. And now, activist Angela Peoples of GetEqual has openly confronted Perkins during a press conference at a Donald Trump event, telling him, “You are responsible for hate and lies… a culture that has fueled violence against our community.”
Related: Five Big Lies In Rick Santorum & Tony Perkins’ New Propaganda Infomercial
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Peoples told Perkins:
What do you have to say for yourself, Tony Perkins? You are responsible – you are responsible for all of this violence. Do you see those 49 people that were murdered in Orlando. You created that environment, sir. What do you have to say for yourself, sir?
“We don’t want your prayers, Tony Perkins. We don’t want your lies. We want you to stop being homophobic, we want you to stop the hate speech.”
All Perkins manages to say in response is a perfectly limp, “You are very disrespectful.”
Oooh, burn.
Watch the confrontation here:
.@mspeoples confronts Tony Perkins of the @FRCdc “what do you have to say for yourself Tony Perkins?” pic.twitter.com/V8XBov0iwF
— GetEQUAL (@GetEQUAL) June 21, 2016
blackhook
Tony Perkins is the most obvious closeted gay freak ever …no straight man secure in his own sexuality would even consider wasting the energy on the “gay menace” as does Perkins.
rjmaquay
Mmmmm. While the guy is a class A prick, the environment that killed 49 was not his doing but islamofascists. Stop molding reality to fit a narative.
musclemutt
@rjmaquay: Insofar as islamic fanaticism put anti-gay pressure on a guy [who maybe incidentally hates the homo in himself], you’re right. I agree also that hatred monstrous of itself needs no bending to similarly monstrous hatred, even when both hatreds coincidentally have their source in religion.
rbailey700
the time for respect is over. you never deserved any respect you piece of shit.
Josh in OR
@rjmaquay: You are so right. We need to focus on the scary brown threat that is the right wing nut bar cause du jour (since they lost on demonizing us), and stop persecuting these poor whites, male Christianists by using their words against them and holding them to an ethical standard of discourse!
I mean, it’s not like the fundamentalist Islamic clerics who preached to their gullible, poorly educated masses for years about how queers were evil abominations fit only for extermination until their word was mistaken for truth have ANYTHING in common with fundamentalist Christianist clerics who preach to their gullible, poorly educated masses for years about how queers were evil abominations fit only for extermination until their word gets mistaken for truth. Why should we waste energy on confronting our own problems when we can just focus on demonizing brown people who happen to Muslim for the crimes of their sadly less-thoughtful members who use their religion to justify horror?
It’s a lot easier to pretend that this is a ‘Muslims only’ issue, but those of us who understand that being Muslim (or Christian, or Jewish) doesn’t make you inherently evil or prone to terrorist actions just because some people mistake fanaticism for truth and fantasy for fact. Those of us capable of nuanced, careful thought instead of knee-jerk, barely concealed racism would like to work on preventing our country from becoming a backwards cess-pit of hate and repression like most fundamentalist Muslim nations, and the way to do that is to go after offenders – WHATEVER their religious affiliation – and stop letting them get away with their lies and hate in the name of their God, not to pretend that our bad guys are somehow less reprehensible and vile because they wave the ‘right’ flag or worship the right book of faerie tales.
scotty
@Josh in OR: well said.
martinbakman
Awesome. Thanks for showing this in lieu of another Zach Effron spread.
Of course Tony Perkins and his ilk wish we would know our place like in the good old days.
Act Up!
cabe
This woman has cajones and should be applauded! She did a great job of getting him to squirm and freak out a bit. We should all find some way to be an activist like her. Kudos!
SFHandyman
Why is he allowed to speak anywhere? They don’t trot out the Grand Dragon of the KKK to comment on stories involving African Americans. Just because he hates gays does not make him an expert about anything to do with us.
DCguy
@Josh in OR:
Clapping
DCguy
@SFHandyman:
Because the media are bigoted, run by bigots.
Trust me, if they could get away with bringing on the leader of the kkk to talk about affirmative action they would.
Louis
Bastard bravo to this brave and incredibly honest woman she is absolutely correct.
Its people like him who continue to preach hatred and violence against us then cowards like this always have the audacity to offer their PRAYERS.
Fuck you and your prayers you sadistic creaton.
Louis
@rjmaquay: So you mean to tell me the way these people brainwash and indoctrinate their followers to hate and believe that hate is the RIGHT way to treat their fellow human beings is not as significant or relevant to the reason heinous acts like Orlando were perpetuated and initiated against us?
I think not thats a delusional way to think and not to mention its not solely Islamic this kind of hatred permeates throughout many religions and its not EVERY SINGLE PERSON WITHIN EACH OF THOSE RELIGIONS that are the issue either.
Its those who are easily lead and easily manipulated and easily prone to hate and justify their hatred that are the issue within EVERY religion on this planet regarding the inhumanity that many of them perpetuate upon us and against us as human beings.
They are most certainly guilty of these kinds of acts being committed their hatreds and their prejudices and their lack of actual education empathy compassion and understanding is what creates this for US they have innocent blood on their hands and this will never be any less then the absolute truth im afraid.
DavidThomasCurran
@Louis: Very well said Sir!
Xzamilio
I wholeheartedly support confronting this asshole… Tony Perkins definitely has blood on his hands, for the lives of the LGBT individuals he and his insidious organization have ruined/shattered/torn apart with their anti-LGBT rhetoric, influence in legislation that denied rights to same sex couples, transgender men and women, and destroying the minds of our LGBT youth. But Orlando ain’t his doing… it’s Omar Mateen, and his warped, corrupted mind that was twisted by his Muslim fundamentalist father and his retrograde views influenced by his religion.
It’s not the same… not by a long shot. Because Jews, Christians, and Muslims are connected by their abrahamic doctrine and the blood that has been shed over the centuries, but at this moment, only one of those religions has a unique substantial fringe group within it ready to kill the masses in the name of its faith, and it’s not Judaism and Christianity? Why? Because those two have been reformed, especially Judaism, which has the most violent and barbaric text of any of them (Torah/Bible/Koran).
I don’t hold back my feelings towards Christianity, and I damn sure am not about to do it for Islam. And I DAMN sure don’t feel the need to keep saying “There’s violence in every religion” as if A. That’s some unknown point, and B. As though the SCALE of violence is equal. It’s not. There’s one group (NOT ALL MUSLIMS as I feel that’s coming) willing to kill at a higher rate, and that’s Muslim fundamentalists… why is that so hard to say? I mean, the way LGBT individuals are treated in the moderate Muslim societies should give us cause for concern that maybe it’s something within the religion itself that needs to be challenged and criticized.
Not just Islamic countries… African countries ruled by Christian laws are some of the most archaic and barbaric to LGBT individuals. Uganda? Nigeria? Somalia? THAT is solely the blame of our Christian right wing spreading their hate. So, no, there’s no blinders to Christian fundamentalism on this end.
And for the record, I am an atheist, and anti-theist. I also have a deep respect for moderate Christians, Jews and Muslims who look beyond their holy doctrine for answers on life and humanity, and how we as social and moral creatures must be to one another.
And frankly, fuck you regressives and fuck you, conservatives for your stupid ass false dichotomy. Regressive put the blame the access to guns and not on the fundamental Islamic upbringing of Omar Mateen. Conservatives blame the fundamental Islamic upbringing of Omar Mateen and not the easy access to guns he had. Porque no los dos? And also, the “racism” crap is incredibly insulting to me as a black man. Islam ain’t a race, it’s a religion, and criticizing it or even mocking it ain’t racism.
GG
First, huge BRAVA to Angela Peoples!
Second, like most bullies who spew from their unassailable positions, when actually confronted by a strong person they have nothing of import to say, cannot defend their positions, and wilt under the pressure.
Third, the only thing I can think of that would have made this better is if she had asked him, “So Mr. Perkins, how successful have your decades of vitriolic hatred and bigotry toward the LGBT community been in reducing your own same-sex attractions??”
chuck
Angela Peoples is my new hero!