LGBT Community Responds to Family Research Council’s Finger-Pointing
GLAAD today joined calls from leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocates in urging media to report critically on responses from anti-LGBT organizations including the Family Research Council (FRC) and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) following a shooting at FRC headquarters last week.
Last Wednesday, an armed man walked into the headquarters of FRC in Washington D.C., shot security guard Leonardo Johnson in the arm, and Johnson’s quick thinking and heroism may have saved countless lives. In the days since the attack, FRC and other anti-gay organizations and individuals have placed the blame for the shooting on research organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), for having designated FRC a “hate group.”
In the past, when the targets of similar incidents have been those on the political or social left, conservative groups have been quick to place blame on the individual responsible. This time, anti-gay organizations have flipped the script and are exploiting Mr. Johnson’s heroism for political (and in the case of the National Organization for Marriage, monetary) gain. FRC, NOM and others have repeatedly stated that the ‘hate group’ designation is what gave the shooter, in FRC President Tony Perkins’ words, a “license to kill.”
However, the Southern Poverty Law Center cites twenty four paragraphs of actions that the FRC has taken, all of which explain exactly what Perkins and his organization did to earn such a designation.
The LGBT community says there’s a simple solution to FRC’s stated dilemma. Don’t want to be called out for being vehemently anti-LGBT? Do better.