From today’s TFN News Clips:
“Forcing soldiers to cohabit with people who view them as sexual objects would inevitably lead to increased sexual tension, sexual harassment, and even sexual assault.”
— Tony Perkins, head of the far-right Family Research Council, criticizing a possible end to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bars gay and lesbian Americans from serving openly in the military
Stay informed with TFN News Clips, a daily digest of news about politics and the religious right. Subscribe here.
Assuming Tony Perkins is heterosexual, does this mean every woman he sees is a “sexual object?”
Wouldn’t the same reasoning apply to the workplace? How does Perkins ever get any work done in an environment where men and women work together? Doesn’t it lead inevitably to increased sexual tension, sexual harassment, and even sexual assault?
What a fumbling pinhead.
I saw an interview with Tony Perkins about this subject on CNN today. He was asked to give his opinion on why “don’t ask/don’t tell” should not be repealed. I never heard so much beating around the bush, circling Robin Hood’s barn, and trying to be clever in a public relations textbook sort of way—stating every trumped up, tangential, strawman reason he could find other than stating the plain truth of his position. The best place he could land on was something like, “Our troops at war overseas are having a tough time, and the repeal will just further endanger the success of our military operations overseas.
Well, Tony. Because you apparently do not have the guts to state the plain truth of your real position, it looks as if I am going to have to do it for you. The next time you appear on CNN, just read the following paragraph aloud to Wolf Blitzer rather than making a fool out of yourself like you did today:
“Wolf. Homosexuality is a sin in the Bible, particularly male homsexuality, which can involve sodomy In the Book of Genesis, God destroyed the city of Sodom because the people there openly practiced this horrid act. If we repeal the “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy in our armed forces, God may think that we condone homosexuality. He may then look down in extreme anger upon our military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and curse them with failure. Worse still, God may get angry and destroy our entire nation, just like He did Sodom. This poses a national security risk of the highest order. Therefore, to protect our nation, we must do whatever it takes to avoid this repeal. The danger of repeal is just too great to risk.”
Now. I ask you. Why can’t Tony Perkins just flat-out say it? Why does he have to beat around the bush with all of this transparent and tangential public relations nonsense he was spewing on CNN today. It only makes him look ridiculous. Try honesty Tony. Next time—read my paragraph to Wolf.
Ben.
I was going to post the same thing you did, but the prose was not coming out well. I opted for my other post. But, yeah. I agree. To me at least, the TFN quote appears to reveal more about his own sexual nature than that of anyone else. I sure would like to interview some of the women workers at the Familly Research Council. It might be interesting. But, hey. If you think about it, this is really nothing more than the traditional view of sex that fundamentalists and evangelical Christians (and others) have held for years. Boys are sexual predators, which is not nice, but that’s really okay because they cannot help themselves—so give them some slack. Girls are blow-up dolls God gave exclusively for the delight and pleasure of these boys. So, shake your tush for the team and fans honey.
Tony Perkins “aspires to the Presidency.”
You can tell. He’s the “right stuff”.
I suspect he spends a lot of time in front of the mirror, practicing “My fellow Americans”, or “My fellow Christian Americans.”
We have to start pinching pennies in the government and we don’t have the money to afford to get rid of highly trained professionals who volunteer to serve.
We can’t afford to indulge Tony Perkins and his ilk, with the deficit in such a bad shape.
Charles, you’re in the zone.
There is no country in this world more concerned about its national security than Israel. Yet Israel allows gays in its military. In fact, if one were to attempt to get out of the IDF based on one’s homosexuality, it would not be an acceptable excuse.
In fact, the armed forces of Canada, Great Britain, France, and Germany allow homosexuals to serve. I don’t see news footage of their armed forces romping “gaily” in the nude on the battlefield as a result. In fact, nobody has any evidence that their armed forces are deficient in any way because of the presence of homosexuals. Canada and Great Britain have suffered heavy losses in Afghanistan (in comparison to the number of personnel they have there), thus, nobody can claim their armed forces are “shrinking violets.”
I think Charles is onto something (as he usually is). Remember the “Right” said that Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 attacks were visited on the United States because of our acceptance of homosexuals and abortion. So there you have it.
Mr. Perkins’ other tacit concern is that teh gays( I read an article somewhere today that showed some of the rhetoric from the Christian taliban, and one of their tenets is that they don’t use the word gay/homo/lesbian anymore, because there isn’t any such animals; We’re all hetero, with some having a “condition”, one that the sickos choose to suffer from.) won’t be as enthusiastic as their more fundamentalist brethren to kill for Jesus. See, it’s not enough to be patriotic to your country; You gotta want to start a worldwide crusade in order for the world to be ready for Jesus to return to his throne here on Earth.
Gates and Mullen are more credible than “crotchety senile old man” McCain, who is facing a strong right wing challenge in Arizona. If he wins his challenge, he’ll soften his position on the issue.
The arguments for dadt are looking pretty weak.
Again, I think the “waste of taxpayer money” could win the argument by itself right now.
There have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of neo-Nazis skinheads that have joined our military. How is gays in the military more of a threat to our country and military than neo-Nazis skinheads? People are born gay. Bigots are not. Sen. Barry Goldwater once said, “A person doesn’t have to be straight in order to shoot straight”.
Some very good points, Robert.
“Forcing soldiers to cohabit with people who view them as sexual objects would inevitably lead to increased sexual tension, sexual harassment, and even sexual assault.”
Absolutely true and it continues to occur. Let’s hope the homosexual troops provide a better example than their hetero counterparts.