Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona is mounting a serious challenge to Louis Gohmert for the title of the dumbest man in Congress. Discussing the appalling situation of the woman in Sudan being put to death for marrying a Christian on Tony Perkins’ radio show, Franks made this staggeringly stupid statement:
Ben Carson went on Tony Perkins’ radio show and claimed that those who oppose gay rights are losing their First Amendment rights. Gee, Mr. Carson, then why aren’t you in jail? Why isn’t Tony Perkins in jail? Your ilk rants against equality on a daily basis and not one of you has ever been arrested. Has it occurred to you that your paranoia is just a big load of bullshit?
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I’ve been quite amused by the opponents of marriage equality trying so hard to pretend that they’re not losing that fight. Tony Perkins, who likes to play pretend on this issue (how else to keep the money flowing in?) interviewed Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values on his radio show as Saenz feigned ignorance of the obvious:
Man, you almost have to admire Edwin Edwards. The longest serving governor in Louisiana history gets out of prison after serving 8 years for racketeering and what does he do? Runs for Congress and says he’s the only hope the Democrats have of winning the seat — and he might even be right.
Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS) has joined the chorus of fake persecution claims, telling Tony Perkins that the Obama administration is now oppressing members of the military by making them “subject to Uniform Code of Military Justice” if they are “are supporting an evangelical Christian organization.” If you can’t find real persecution, you just make shit up.
A day after saying that he doesn’t know anyone who is anti-gay, Glenn Beck went on the virulently anti-gay Tony Perkins’ radio show and told him that his Blaze network should be on cable because he believes in miracles, but that “other forces at work that aren’t necessarily earthly forces that would like to see voices silenced.”
There seems to be no limit whatsoever to how hysterically overblown the reaction from the Christian right can be to the loss of their ability to discriminate against gay people. Paul Blair of Reclaiming America for Christ told Tony Perkins that the fight against equality is just like the fights against slavery and Hitler.
There are causes that may be worth going on a hunger strike for. If it’s the only way you think you can prevent a great injustice, it’s certainly worth considering. But imagine being such a raging bigot that you’re willing to starve to death to prevent people from getting equality. A Utah man is doing exactly that.
Dispatches From the Culture Wars
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