Family Research Council Focuses on Gay Sex During ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Press Conference

Yesterday anti-gay group Family Research Council (FRC) held a press conference meant to respond to the Pentagon’s 10-month study on “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT). The D.C.-based think tank, affiliated with Focus on the Family, brought together several high profile anti-gay leaders to outline their reasons for opposing repeal of the 1993 law prohibiting the open military service of gay and lesbian Americans. Despite their best efforts at keeping their sideshow on “facts” and statistics, speakers derailed the event as they ranted about the details of gay sex, rape and child molestation. It was precisely this behavior that landed FRC on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups in November.

Most of the speakers – including FRC President Tony Perkins, U.S. Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), and the discredited President of the Center for Military Readiness Elaine Donnelly—seemed utterly obsessed with issues of morality and questions of whether DADT should be repealed. The focus of the Pentagon’s study was on whether the policy could be repealed and how implementation might impact military operations.

“In my opinion, repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ should not be at this time and should not be in this way,” Fleming told reporters. “What I think is really wrong with the study itself was that it was not asking the right question. The decision has already been made. Oftentimes, you get the answers you want by the questions you ask.”

Perkins, Fleming, and Donnelly at least attempted to keep their attention on the Pentagon. In particular, they pointed out statistics showing a significant portion of servicemembers expected a “mixed” or “neutral” affect on the military if DADT is repealed. Other speakers didn’t try as hard to hide their disdain for gays or their ability to manipulate facts.

Col. Dick Black, who is now retired, said a repeal of DADT would result in “overt displays of femininity and sexuality,” increased levels of sexual harassment, invasions of personal privacy and “erosion in standards of conduct.” He then went on to outline several criminal statistics he says he collected while chief of the Pentagon’s criminal law division in 1993. The cases he cited, primarily sexual assault cases among people of the same sex, also included cases of child molestation. It’s the same types of arguments outlined by Peter Sprigg in FRC’s May 2010 brief, “Homosexual Assault in the Military.” Like other FRC leaders, Sprigg holds extremely anti-gay views and has argued in favor of criminalizing and exporting gays from the United States.

One of FRC’s final speakers sealed the deal on the event’s irrelevance. Arthur Schultz of the International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers talked mainly about gay “culture” and sexual behavior. His knowledge of particular sexual habits among gay men is curious:

The scripture defines it as sin. Scripture also shows that something that when something is defined as sin there are consequences to that. If you look carefully at homosexuality you will see there are many serious issues that come out of the practice. Homosexuality is not merely a choice of a partner for sex. It involves behavior and there is a community, a culture associated with that…I’m talking about rimming and fisting and other things which we could not describe here without embarrassing people. That’s part of the culture. When you say homosexuality is okay, where is the line?

FRC’s obsession with gay sex and their willingness to talk about it so openly has done to damage their credibility. Instead of discussing facts or statistics or attempting to look like they care about military readiness, they look sex-obsessed. Speakers like Schultz make your argument clear: You think homosexuals are dirty and disgusting because (you think) your scripture tells you so.

It’s amazing the lengths to which groups like FRC will go in trotting out their arguments against DADT repeal. They have no real data to justify their views and can rely only on their religious beliefs and flimsiest of often falsely-interpreted and anecdotal “evidence.” Like their oft-repeated claim gays are more likely to molest children, FRC results to lies and distortion when no evidence exists to back up their claims.

Yet Perkins and others affiliated with FRC continue to appear in the mainstream media, giving this group and other like it a platform. FRC has run its course, discredited itself, and deserves not the respect of, but rather the laughter (and pity, if you prefer) of media and political professionals across the country.

A full video of the press conference can be viewed via Good.As.You.

Matt Comer is a staff writer for Campus Progress.

Related Stories

• Being Gay and Catholic
• All You Need to Know About The Heritage’s Problematic Study [LINKS]
• What If ‘Hetero’ Was the New ‘Homo’?
• Why State Support for Marriage Equality Is Gaining Momentum
• FAFSA Modernizes to Recognize LGBT Families

Story Tags

• dadt