In some other alternate universe, Tony Perkins and Rick Santorum are madly in love, own a cute little B&B in rural Pennsyltucky, and have pet names for each other like “Perky” and “Santa.” We like to picture them in this happy context, rather than how they are in this universe: angry, spiteful, untrustworthy sneaks.
Exhibit A is their loathsome new campaign to convince churchgoers that gay couples want to destroy religion. They’ve teamed up for a new campaign “One Generation Away” that’s so bogged-down with lies and distortions that it might as well be a National Enquirer article. Fortunately, it’s an easy piece of propaganda to refute. Here are the top five claims in the ad, and why they’re wrong, wrong, wrong.
Lie number 1.: Most Americans oppose gay marriage.
Wrong. First of all, the term is “the freedom to marry.” We don’t say “gay marriage” because that suggests that marriage for gays and lesbians is somehow different from marriage for straights. While that may be true in a few ways, from a legal perspective, the differences are irrelevant. And since the fight for marriage is living primarily in courts these days, well, legal terminology matters.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But let’s get to the meat of Perkins’ half-baked claim. “Throughout the country the majority of American continue to believe that marriage should be between on man and one woman.” Nope, not even a little bit true. The polling shows that over half of the states have a majority supporting marriage; and nationally, support’s up around 60%. Even a majority of Republicans support it. Tony can claim that one study shows that a majority is on his side, but that’s simply not true: the “study” was done by a PR firm working for Tony Perkins.
Lie number 2: The government is punishing wedding businesses.
Not exactly. The government is punishing businesses that break the law. And not just any law, but nondiscrimination law. Those laws exist for a good reason: it used to be perfectly legal for a businesses to turn away black people from a business; for a bank to refuse to give a loan to immigrants; or for schools to ban Catholic students or Jewish ones. That was not super-awesome, and we’ve gotten better as a country since then. But there are some folks who would like to return to that time, and they happen to be florists and bakers for some reason. (Apparently, wing nuts like to be florists as much as the gays do!)
So let’s be clear: nobody is punished for being religious. They’re being punished for engaging in illegal discrimination, and they’re mad that their religion doesn’t give them a get-out-of-following-the-law card. Sorry, folks, but there are some laws that everyone has to follow, no matter how religious you are. In fact, religious minorities benefit as much as any group from these laws, and if they had any shred of decency, they would acknowledge that they are refusing others the liberty they enjoy.
Lie number 3: Restricting religious practices is a thought crime.
Good lord, no. The government doesn’t care what you think, it cares what you do. If you turn away certain customers but not others, and your justification is that you simply don’t like a particular protected class, that’s not a thought, it’s an action.
Besides, if a businesses really believe that they need to discriminate against gays, they have an option for doing so: they can become a private club. They’ll still be held to certain other laws — bakers can’t put bake dead rats into cakes, florists can’t break your kneecaps if you have an overdue bill — but at least you can choose who your customers are.
Lie number 4: Discriminating against gay people doesn’t mean you hate them.
“I love gay people, I’ve had gay friends, I don’t hate them, it’s not about that,” says a woman in the video.
Look, lady. It’s very nice that you think that’s the case. But exactly what kind of a “friend” were you to those “gay friends”? Did you look down on them, tell them they’re inferior, let them know that you think you’re better than they are? Did you celebrate the happiest day of their lives by saying “ugh gross”? Because that does not seem super friendly.
You have a choice to make, homophobes. Either treat your friends with respect, which implies equality or admit that you are terrible at friendship.
Lie number 5: Nondiscrimination laws will destroy religious freedom, so please send us $20.
Yup, the entire Perkins/Santorum video is an infomercial in disguise. But this might be the world’s weirdest sales pitch: first it tells you that you’re under attack, then it tells you that you need to send them $20 for a DVD that will tell you even more about how you’re under attack. Like, why do you even need the second DVD at this point?
Anyway, you obviously do not need to send Tony Perkins (who makes a quarter million a year just from the Family Research Council alone) any money. He has too much.
Santorum’s grinning goofy face appears briefly around this point, and if you ever wanted an example of someone who is not a friend to the gays, hoo boy, you couldn’t do much better than this guy. (He owns the company that’s selling the DVDs. So not only does he get to make a sales pitch for his company, he also gets to wink at likely voters right before announcing his presidential candidacy. What a sneaky son of a bitch.)
And more importantly, nondiscrimination laws will not, as they claim, destroy anyone’s ability to worship freely. Here’s the thing: The video throws in a little soundbite from Reagan at the very end, in which he says that freedom might be just one generation away from being destroyed. The problem is that he was talking about how freedom would be destroyed if the country enacted Medicare. And guess what? We’ve had Medicare for several generations and it seems to be going just fine. So this “one generation away” prediction of Reagan’s really isn’t any more accurate than a wild guess made by a phone psychic.
Medicare didn’t end democracy. Nondiscrimination won’t destroy the First Amendment. Everybody just calm down, and try to ignore Perkins and Santorum’s little tantrum.
David R Williams
tricky ricky
I love the way santorum sidles up to people he thinks are going to hell for not being catholic to suit his agenda. I know exactly what type of catholic this lying worm is and it’s the kind that should be revolted by associating with people he knows full well are going to hell for not being a catholic like he is. he’ll do anything to make a buck and advance his opus dei agenda.
ingyaom
Strong work, Matt. You’re an inspiration. Thanks
dvlaries
The Crazy is only going to get more hysterical between now and the ruling. The death squeals of drowning rats.
RIGay
And you expect what from liars and hypocrites?
Forbid someone hold them accountable.
JCG
Even the bible refutes #4, as the Golden Rule of “Do ynto others as you would have them do unto you” is clearly stated by Jesus in one of the gospels.
Too bad the bigots and grifters ignore that part of the book which they claim to be defending…
Giancarlo85
So where are all the gay republicans and defenders of gay republicans? Not posting under this article. Santorum represents what the republican party is all about. Hate and discrimination… I hope they keep it up so they shrink even further. The republican party base is dying off from old age… and eventually will render itself irrelevant.
enfilmigult
“‘I love gay people, I’ve had gay friends, I don’t hate them, it’s not about that,’ says a woman in the video.”
I can’t stand it when people say this. NOBODY CARES, LADY. What is it with these folks who think their personal opinions are so important to everyone else that they’ll be cool with you making their lives harder, more expensive, more stressful and shorter as long as it’s not, like, because you *hate* them? Guess it goes hand-and-hand with thinking the non-Christian world spends all of their time thinking about Christian churches (because of course they would). What arrogance and self-importance.
Terrence Houlihan
MOREâ?¦.PROFESSIONAL REPUBLICAN LIARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bauhaus
You just know Tony Perkins and Ralph Reed suck each other off. It’s so obvious.
Tombear
ANYTHING Perkins says about the LGBT community is a lie. I hope you guys realize this!
lykeitiz
@ingyaom: Yes!…….This is a great article.
darian
@Giancarlo85: Of coarse they are not going to be here for 2 reasons. 1. they are not some gay Republican twinks being “bullied” by the gay community. 2. These are ” single individual issues that don’t effect our country as a whole”. To put it simply there is no gay victimhood to be had here so they won’t show up.
Giancarlo85
@darian: So true! I laugh when they say they “these are single individual isseus that don’t effect our country as a whole”…. if they were so concerned about the country they wouldn’t be republican, conservative or libertarian. If they were so concerned, they would be on the left politically.
jwtraveler
Only 5? He’s not looking very hard.
I always say “gay marriage”. “Freedom to marry” is a euphemistic oxymoron created to sound palatable to the mass public. It’s like NARAL and Planned Parenthood using “Pro-choice” and “Anti-choice” to avoid alienating people by saying “abortion”.
captainburrito
But but but you get THREE DVDs of soft lense, dramatic shots of patriotic scenery and motivating music!
Giancarlo85
@jwtraveler: It’s “same sex marriage”. Not gay marriage. You’re starting to lose your mind man.