It was certainly disappointing to be out of state on vacation, and learn that the leader of a recognized hate group had been invited to speak at the Tulare County Prayer Breakfast.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, the premier organization for tracking and identifying hate groups in the United States, has designated the Family Research Council an anti-gay hate group since 2010.
It’s not easy to gain such an ‘honor’, but it’s one Perkins and the FRC have worked hard to achieve.
That such a person should be invited to Visalia to speak to a religious group is outrageous.
Visalia, in the years since the Visalia Unified School District was sued for discrimination directed at a gay student (VUSD lost), to the Pride Month proclamations presented by the City Council in recent years, has come a long way toward equality and tolerance. With Perkins’ being invited to speak at a prayer breakfast, it’s clear that we still have a significant amount of backwards and bigoted thinking going on, and it’s coming from the faith community.
Shame on you, Tulare County Prayer Breakfast, and shame on religious and political leaders who attend, and lend legitimacy to a hate group by your presence.
Note: please excuse any typos or rough construction of this post. It’s being done from Kansas, via my iPhone.