Fox News Sunday will host a debate on same-sex marriage featuring a anti-gay hate group leader who’s known for peddling lies and smears about the LGBT community, reports Media Matters for America.
Jan. 18, Fox News Sunday is scheduled to host a debate on same-sex marriage featuring Ted Olson, a prominent pro-equality attorney, and Tony Perkins, president of the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council (FRC).
According to a Fox News press release announcing the debate:
Both sides in the same-sex marriage debate are looking to the Supreme Court as it decides whether or not to weigh in on the issue. The High Court is set to discuss cases from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, and decide whether to rule on petitions challenging state bans on same-sex marriage. We’ll debate what has become a key social issue within the country, exclusively with Ted Olson, former Solicitor General who served as Co-Counsel for the plaintiffs in Virginia’s same-sex marriage case, and Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council.
Perkins’s FRC was labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in 2010 because it has often promoted smears and falsehoods about the LGBT community. Perkins’ history of extreme anti-gay work is well documented: he’s made a career of linking homosexuality to pedophilia and calling homosexuality a health risk.
This is the second time Fox News Sunday has hosted Olson and Perkins for a debate; the first was in October of 2012 to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision not to review a number of pro-equality federal court decisions. During that exchange, Perkins peddled a number of lies about marriage equality, claiming that same-sex marriage would create a slippery slope to polygamy, shut down religious adoption agencies, and force children to learn about homosexuality in school. Perkins also attacked same-sex relationships, arguing “there’s nothing in nature to say that that’s normal”:
Fox continues to treat Perkins as a credible commentator on LGBT issues, despite FRC’s embarrassing history of wildly inaccurate “policy analysis.” The hate group leader has lost credibility on other cable news networks, but continues to receive warm welcomes at Fox. On Sunday, he’ll have yet another chance to preach his hate-driven misinformation to a national audience.
