Evangelical hate group with links to Trump asks God to ‘protect children’ from Joe Biden’s plan to boost LGBT+ rights
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Researcil Council (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
An evangelical “hate group” run by a controversial international religious freedom commissioner is asking God to protect the “purity” of America’s children from Joe Biden’s pro-LGBT+ policies.
The dog-whistle claim came in a daily prayer from Family Research Council (FRC) — the anti-LGBT+ lobby group designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, run by Tony Perkins, who is also a Republican-appointed religious freedom commissioner.
Perkins is alleged to be a member of the president’s unofficial evangelical advisory board, the existence of which has been denied by the White House.
In the message, noted by JoeMyGod, FRC called on Christians to “vote based on biblical principles” in the upcoming election.
It reads: “President Trump’s administration has repeatedly prioritised life, family, and religious liberty issues.
“In addition, the administration has implemented an originalist interpretation of the constitution, which does not read social policy preferences into the law but allows for an interpretation of the plain text to arrive at legal conclusions.
“Joe Biden is running for president on a platform committed to advancing LGBT rights. The centrepiece of his officially released plan is the passage of the Equality Act. The act undermines religious protections currently in place.”
FRC added: “Father, we pray for the remaining primary and general elections, that you will raise up men and women who will hold to the eternal word of God and be advocates for truth and liberty in these matters. Please protect our children’s and grandchildren’s purity.”
Family Research Council boss Tony Perkins with Donald Trump (Getty)
Biden’s LGBT+ plan makes clear that as president, he “will stand with the LGBTQ+ community to ensure America finally lives up to the promise on which it was founded: equality for all”.
“He will provide the moral leadership to champion equal rights for all LGBTQ+ people, fight to ensure our laws and institutions protect and enforce their rights, and advance LGBTQ+ equality globally,” it adds.
Family Research Council head Tony Perkins has horrifying views about LGBT+ people
Tony Perkins, who serves on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, earlier this year praised the decision to oust a US ambassador who condemned the jailing of gay men in Zambia.
He accused ambassador Daniel Foote of “insulting the country’s LGBT policies and judicial system” by making clear that he was “personally horrified” by the jailing of two gay men for a consensual relationship.
Perkins wrote: “Recalling Foote is the right move when he has broken trust with his hosts and can no longer effectively serve as our representative overseas.
“It should also serve as an indicator of how we will act elsewhere. America respects everyone, but it won’t promote values that are inconsistent with what this president stands for.”
A frequent associate of Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence, Perkins is alleged to have had input in a White House policy document that made the case for banning transgender people from the military.
His close ties with the Republican administration comes despite making a number of extremely disturbing claims about gay people in the past, insisting Christians are “going to find ourselves being loaded in cattle cars like it was when the Nazis took over before we realise we are in such terrible danger”.
Perkins has also previously compared gay people to paedophiles, saying: “While activists like to claim that paedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. It is a homosexual problem”.
His Family Research Council states on its website its belief that “homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large, and can never be affirmed”.
