Hate Group Ties Become Issue for Tony Perkins in Possible Run for Congress
State Sen. Dan Claitor, a Baton Rouge Republican, threw his name into the race for Louisiana鈥檚 6th Congressional district this week. That鈥檚 the same district that Tony Perkins has been . Perkins, of course, is head of the Family Research Council, an .
It wasn鈥檛 by coincidence, then, that Claitor expressed concern about another potential candidate who has 鈥渜uestionable associations with certain hate groups.鈥� As Lauren McGaughy in the Times-Picayune, Claitor also likened Perkins to former Louisiana state legislator and KKK Imperial Wizard David Duke and cautioned that he doesn鈥檛 want the state to 鈥渂ecome the focus of the national media because we have extremists running for a particular office.鈥�
The reference to Duke is an interesting one. Perkins, to be sure, is no David Duke. But he did Duke鈥檚 supporter list in 1996 and then tried unsuccessfully to . He was later fined by the Federal Elections Commission.
Then in 2001, Perkins was photographed addressing a gathering of the white supremacist . The group, a direct descendent of the segregationist White Citizens Councils of the 1950s and 1960s, has called African Americans a 鈥渞etrograde species of humanity.鈥� Perkins, who later denied knowledge of the group鈥檚 racist views, spoke in front of a Confederate flag (seen here, courtesy of ):
The following year, Perkins ran for the U.S. Senate and finished in fourth place in the Republican primary with just 9% of the vote. Perkins apparently believes that his years spent at the helm of the FRC will put him in better position. He may be right, but he鈥檚 also established himself as an at a time when the country is moving toward moderation and acceptance. As we鈥檝e , Perkins and the FRC are viciously anti-gay and falsely link pedophilia and homosexuality to portray gays as sexual predators.
Perkins spends most of his time in D.C., but he has worked to create the impression that he still lives in Baton Rouge. Governor Bobby Jindal recently appointed Perkins to serve on the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement. He managed to land the nomination despite for the other commission he sits on 鈥� the Commission on Marriage and Family, no less!
It鈥檚 encouraging that Perkins鈥� record of extremism is drawing scrutiny even before he enters the race. He鈥檚 going to find, if he hasn鈥檛 already, that attacking gays is no longer a form of career advancement.
I鈥檓 reminded of something Perkins once said about the 鈥淚t Gets Better鈥� series of videos. In his words, the videos are 鈥渁imed at persuading kids that although they'll face struggles and perhaps bullying for 'coming out' as homosexual (or transgendered or some other perversion), life will get better.鈥� He derided that mission as 鈥渄isgusting鈥� and part of a 鈥渃oncerted effort鈥� to 鈥渞ecruit them into that lifestyle.鈥�
What must have upset him so is that the corollary is also true. For anti-gay dead-enders like Perkins, it gets worse.
