David Freelander wrote a bizarre article wondering if retaliation by proponents of gay marriage against their opponents would constitute a “new McCarthyism.”
Savvy conservatives and evangelicals are acknowledging, often privately, that public opinion is not in their favor. And they fear what will happen in the future to those who fought against the rising tide of public opinion.
“We have people who are losing their jobs, being smeared publicly because they hold the view that marriage is a union between one man and one woman,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, an evangelical think tank and lobbying organization. “They are called bigots. Homophobes. That is not the way we operate in a free society.”
But Freelander leaves out a bit of context here.
The Family Research Council did not just oppose gay marriage. It argued repeatedly that homosexuality itself should remain criminalized in the United States
In 2002, the FRC filed an amicus brief in Lawrence v. Texas urging the Supreme Court to uphold Texas’ ban on sodomy.
In a 2010 interview with Chris Mathews, the FRC’s Senior Researcher for Policy Studies, Peter Sprigg, made it clear the FRC still thought homosexuality should be outlawed,
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Do you think we should outlaw gay behavior?
PETER SPRIGG: Well, I think certainly-
MATTHEWS: I’m just asking you, should we outlaw gay behavior?
SPRIGG: I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned the sodomy laws in this country, was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.
MATTHEWS: So we should outlaw gay behavior.
SPRIGG: Yes.
There certainly is a reasonable debate to be had about the cases such as Brendan Eich, who was forced to resign as CEO of the Mozilla Foundation after it was revealed he had donated $1,000 to pro-Proposition 8 forces in 2008.
But Freelander is completely irresponsible in attempting to make Perkins and the FRC look like potential victims here without even mentioning in passing that this is a group that, if it had its way, would see gay people in jail for no other reason than their sexuality.