From the
Huffington Post:
Dear Mr. Perkins,
Let me again express my strong condemnation of the shooting at the
Family Research Council offices, as well as my support and concern for
all those affected. Security guard Leo Johnson, who took a bullet (and
luckily did not lose his life, and is currently in stable condition), is
a hero who saved others from being shot. I'm enormously grateful for
that. As I wrote here
last week, whatever the gunman's motives, they are twisted and utterly
unacceptable. This shooting is an outrage and should send a chill
through everyone on both sides of these debates. You and I have debated
gay rights, civilly, on TV and in other media. That's how these
disagreements should always be addressed: via civil discourse, never
through violence.
In that post
last week, I also stated that no one should be exploiting this tragedy
for political gain. That's why I and many others are greatly
disappointed by the press conference
you held last week, and I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you
to have a public discussion with me about hate (more on this below).
Without providing any facts, you claimed
that the Southern Poverty Law Center's labeling your group a "hate
group" gave the alleged shooter a "license to shoot." You went on to obscure why you were put in the hate group category, implying that it was because of your position against same-sex marriage.
But let's be clear about why FRC is in that category. After all,
there are thousands of conservative and religious groups across the
country that are opposed to marriage equality, many of which also
believe homosexuality to be a sin, but the SPLC does not deem them all
hate groups. It's only a tiny handful of conservative groups that have
been given that distinction by the SPLC. They are listed as hate groups "based on their propagation of known falsehoods
-- claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by
scientific authorities -- and repeated, groundless name-calling." Also,
two years ago, an FRC official said "homosexual behavior" should be
outlawed. You wouldn't repudiate him. It was also revealed
that the FRC contributed $25,000 to stop a congressional resolution to
condemn the "kill the gays" bill in Uganda, which would have made
homosexuality punishable by death. You worried that the resolution could
make it appear as if homosexuality is acceptable. If that Ugandan bill,
and even tacit approval of it, isn't "hate," what is?
~
But maybe we are misunderstanding you. Maybe you have
incontrovertible proof behind these and many other claims. Maybe you
can convince me that the hate group label is unfair, or maybe I can
convince you that some or all of these claims are erroneous. Or perhaps
we will each realize that we've misunderstood one another in some ways.
So I'm asking you here and now to engage with me in a civil public
discussion to debate these and other claims and to talk about hate. We
can do it here on HuffPost, or on my radio program on SiriusXM.
It's vitally important to have this dialogue now if you agree that
we've all got to bring down the temperature, and if you sincerely want
to clear up what you believe are misunderstandings. Let's take this
instance, this latest tragedy, and turn it into a moment of
understanding and insight.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Michelangelo Signorile
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