Most people know Josh Duggar as the oldest child of the loveable Duggar Family, of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting. But, eldest son Josh is also the director of FRC Action, the political lobbying arm of the recognized hate-group Family Research Council. That makes right-wing psychopath Tony Perkins Josh’s boss and good friend, since Mr. Perkins is the President of FRC.
Tony Perkins made news in 2012 for supporting the Ugandan “kill the gays” bill, saying on twitter,
“American liberals are upset that Ugandan Pres is leading his nation in repentance–afraid of a modern example of a nation prospered by God?”
Further, FRC is considered an official “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and they use the following actual quotes from the FRC website as their reasoning for the label:
?[H]omosexual activists vehemently reject the evidence which suggests that homosexual men ? are ? relative to their numbers, more likely to engage in such actions [childhood sexual abuse] than are heterosexual men.? ? Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at FRC, on why the Boy Scouts should not allow LGBT Scouts or leaders, FRC blog, February 1, 2013.
?While activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. ? It is a homosexual problem.? ? FRC President Tony Perkins, FRC website, 2010
Tony Perkins also has a history of violating civil rights from his time as a police officer, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports.
“…in 1992, while a reserve police officer in Baton Rouge, Perkins failed to report an illegal conspiracy by antiabortion activists to his superiors. That was Operation Rescue’s ?Summer of Purpose,? when the group targeted the Delta Women’s Clinic in Baton Rouge. Perkins was dividing his time between his duties as a volunteer for the city’s police force and his job as a reporter for ?Woody Vision,? a local right-wing television station owned by his mentor, Republican State Rep. Louis ?Woody? Jenkins.”
Of course, Perkins’ heinous remarks and actions are not just things if the past. No, he likes to keep himself relevant by regularly commenting on current events, giving his own special take on the issues. In Perkins’ “State of the Family” address, his annual speech that coincides with the SOTU, Perkins made sure to point out that his religious freedom was being stomped on in the name of equality and civil rights for all.
“As grotesque as the Obamacare mandates are, the attacks on religious liberty surrounding marriage feature something even more sinister. Government entities are seeking to force small business owners to actively participate in ceremonies that violate their moral conscience.”
And most recently, when an Alabama judge struck down the gay marriage ban, Perkins had to stand up and speak against progress. Said Perkins:
“As one judge after another has robbed the people of their voice, the U.S. Supreme Court’s intervention last week was long overdue. It is time that the courts respect the freedom of the people to uphold the timeless and natural definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that empowers this federal judge to overturn Alabama’s marriage amendment nor any basis for the U.S. Supreme Court to impose a 50 state same-sex ‘marriage’ mandate.”
Perkins also seems to have jumped on the “no-go zones” bandwagon, claiming that they already exist (cue right-wing panic) in America in places such as Dearborn, Michigan and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Those claims, of course, are completely wrong, as Congressman Keith Elliot (D-Minnesota) pointed out in a letter to Perkins.
.@tperkins: While there aren't any "Sharia no-go zones" in Minneapolis, I invite you to come and see for yourself. pic.twitter.com/DOrPwCd3WC
— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 21, 2015
Tony Perkins truly is a right-wing nut job, and his close relationship with Josh Duggar and the Duggar family is concerning. The Duggars continue to use their fame to spread their hate all over social media, and TLC? continues to portray them as just a regular, if not super-sized, family, completely cutting out any and all reference to their extremist views and activism. It’s important to spread the word, though, that the Duggars allign themselves with people such as Tony Perkins (and Bill Gothard, for that matter), so that the family cannot recruit more cult members by just seeming so darn sweet. There is nothing “sweet” about lobbying for a hate group in Washington, D.C.
