Family Research Council

{{homophobia}}
{{Hatnote|Not to be confused with the [[Family Research Institute]], which is just as batshit crazy.}}
The '''Family Research Council (FRC)''' was founded in 1981 by [[Focus on the Family]] chairman Dr. [[James Dobson]]. It is a [[homophobic]] [[right-wing]] [[fundamentalist]] [[Christian]] advocacy group based in [[Washington, D.C.]] It is considered a hate group by the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101201040334/http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-adds-family-research-council-to-hate-groups-list SPLC Responds to Attack by Family Research Council]</ref>

==Foundation==
The initial concept of the FRC originated during the 1980 White House Conference on Families, which was actually a series of seven conferences held around the country. Originally, the Conference was intended to examine the strengths and weaknesses of all [[family]] units, but during the committee formation process, [[conservatives]] were able to [[Politicization of science|block the nominations]] of most [[moderate]]s from the Conference.<ref>Brozan, Nadine. "White House Conference on the Family: A Schism Develops; The 'Moderate' Grouping 'Advocacy' Is Disavowed," ''New York Times'', 7 January 1980. (The Conference convened in June, 1980.)</ref> As a result, the Conference focused on the strengths of "traditional" family units ([[nuclear family|married husband and wife with kids]]) and the weaknesses of "non-traditional" family units (single parents, [[divorce|unmarried]] parents, [[gay]] parents, and so on).

Dobson was one of the committee members, and organized the FRC shortly after the election of [[Ronald Reagan|Ronald Reagan]]. In 1983, he incorporated the FRC as a non-profit corporation along with notable [[chickenhawk]] Gary Bauer, and [[psychiatrist]]s [[Dr. George Rekers]] of the University of [[South Carolina]] and Dr. Armand Nicholi, Jr. of Harvard University. Bauer secured early funding from Edgar Prince, father of [[Blackwater]] founder Erik Prince.

==Things FRC have proven they hate, even though they try to say they're not a hate group==
*[[Abortion]], [[birth control]], and [[overpopulation|population control]]. They love [[crisis pregnancy center]]s, though.
*Homosexuality in general, and [[gay marriage]] and parenthood in particular.
*Anthropogenic [[global warming]] — Why this is a pro- or anti-family cause is anybody's guess.<ref>Most likely because it plays into the [[Global warming#Theories|global warming as eugenics]] [[meme]], as in [https://web.archive.org/web/20080427205217/http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=04&year=2008&base_name=an_earth_day_message_from_the this FRC mailing reprinted by ''The American Prospect''].</ref>
*[[Gambling]].
*The [[Occupy Wall Street]] protestors (even though [[Jesus]] ''flat out said'' in the [[Gospel of Mark|Book of Mark]] that Christians have to give up their possessions, to help the [[poor]]).
*[[Islam]], [[Hypocrisy|since it's a "fanatical religion"]] and because President [[Obama]] (A) hosted White House functions that actually invited Muslims and (B) doesn't automatically condemn them as [[Satanic panic|Satanic]] [[Immigration|Alien]] [[Red-baiting|Communist]] Invaders From An Hitherto Unknown Dimension.<ref>[https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/frc-calls-islam-a-fanatical-religion-attacks-white-house-event-with-muslims/ FRC Calls Islam a 'Fanatical Religion,' Attacks White House Event with Muslims] ''Right Wing Watch''</ref>  

==Tony Perkins==

[[File:Tony_Perkins_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg|thumb|right|165px|
Norman Bates
 A most perky Tony Perkins!]]
{{cquote|FRC has long been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a prominent anti-LGBT hate-group, and Perkins himself has a notorious reputation for his anti-LGBT vitriol. Though he often tames his rhetoric in mainstream news appearances to sound like his anti-gay views represent all U.S. Christians, he then tells FRC’s audiences things like that homosexuality leads to “eternal damnation” and is “harmful” to individuals “and to society as a whole.”|||<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160622173300/http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/06/19/abc-news-quietly-pulled-christian-bigot-tony-perkins-from-their-sunday-morning-roundtable ABC News Quietly Pulled Christian Bigot Tony Perkins From Their Sunday Morning Roundtable]</ref>}}
{{cquote|We kind of gave him [Trump] — 'All right, you get a [[Fun:Golf#How to cheat|mulligan]]. You get a do-over here.'|||Perkins in 2018, basically giving Trump free rein to commit any [[moral]] transgression he likes<ref>[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/23/tony-perkins-evangelicals-donald-trump-stormy-daniels-216498 Tony Perkins: Trump Gets ‘a Mulligan’ on Life, Stormy Daniels: The Family Research Council head says that evangelical conservatives are willing to overlook Trump’s past behavior so long as he delivers for them on policy.] by Edward-Isaac Dovere (January 23, 2018) ''Politico''.</ref>}}

'''Anthony Perkins''' {{lived|1962|}} is an [[United States|American]] professional [[homophobe]] and the president of the Family Research Council. After a gunman shot up his group's offices in 2012, Perkins partially blamed the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] for the incident, claiming that their branding of the Family Research Council as a [[Hate speech|hate group]] inspired the shooter.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120818235553/http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/family_research_council_shooting_splc.php TPM]</ref>

In 2012 alone, Perkins said kids are made [[gay]] because of immoral parents, that the Secret Service [[prostitution]] scandal was a result of the administration's repeal of "[[Don't ask, don't tell|don't ask, don't tell]]," and that JCPenney should have been boycotted because it chose a [[lesbian]] spokeswoman in Ellen DeGeneres.<ref>http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/advocate-45/2012/08/21/45-biggest-homophobes-our-45-years?page=full </ref>

He is known to have associations with [[white supremacists]], such as [[David Duke]] and the [[Council of Conservative Citizens|council of conservative citizens]]. After attending a convention run by the latter he claims he was unaware of the latter's racist intentions (despite blatantly speaking in front of a [[Confederate flag]]).<ref>https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/tony-perkins</ref> He also [[hypocritically]] attacked [[Donald Trump|Trump]] for refusing to disavow the former.<ref>http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tony-perkins-hits-trump-over-david-duke-endorsement-despite-his-own-duke-connection</ref>

{{cquote|[[Yahweh|The Lord]] destroyed your home in a [[great flood]]? You know what that makes you in any [[Noah]] analogy…|||[[Betty Bowers]] to Perkins<ref>https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/765964457986158593</ref>}}
On the 17<sup>th</sup> of August 2016, Perkins — who has claimed that [[Problem_of_evil|natural disasters are God's way to punish gays]] — had his own southern [[Louisiana]] home ravaged by massive flooding. Perkins claimed that ''this'' flood was different, describing it as an "…incredible, encouraging spiritual exercise". With 11 people killed and over 40,000 homes destroyed in the flood, one hopes Perkin's spirit has been exercised to herculean levels.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20160820125101/http://deadstate.org/guy-who-says-god-sends-natural-disasters-to-punish-gays-has-his-home-destroyed-in-a-natural-disaster/</ref>

==Shooting==
In August 2012, a gunman opened fire on the headquarters, injuring one guard.<ref>Jason Ryan and Russell Goodman, [https://abcnews.go.com/US/family-research-council-shooting-injured-guard-tackles-gunman/story?id=17013563#.UCxso7S43kg Family Research Council Shooting: Injured Guard Tackles Gunman]. ''ABC News'', 15 August 2012.</ref> Never missing a chance to engage in some convenient demagoguery in the wake of an averted tragedy, Tony Perkins blamed the Southern Poverty Law Center for creating the hostile atmosphere for such an incident, despite the fact that the SPLC documented several public statements that caused it to designate the FRC as a hate group and ''not'' because they "disagree with them on public policy" as Perkins claimed.<ref>[http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/family-research-council Family Research Council.] SPLC website</ref><ref>[http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/setting-record-straight-frcs-hate-group-designation Setting the Record Straight on the FRC's 'Hate Group' Designation,] ''Right Wing Watch''</ref> On the ''other'' hand, according to Perkins, maybe it's all just Obama's fault. [[Rick Santorum]] assisted with the wholesale blaming of convenient [[scapegoat]]s on this occasion and even threw in 
a genuinely idiotic [[Non sequitur|non-sequitur]]
 an observation concerning [[Chick-fil-A]] for good measure.<ref>[http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/perkins-clear-link-shooting-obama-administration-policies Tony Perkins says there is a 'Clear Link' between the FRC Shooting and Obama Administration Policies,] ''Right Wing Watch''</ref> Considering how Perkins and the FRC strongly supported [[Uganda]]'s genuinely homicidal law criminalizing homosexuality,<ref>{{wpa|Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill}}</ref> though, the phrase "selective outrage" just might not be harsh ''enough''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120826030024/http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/08/21/frc-defended-ugandan-kill-the-gays-bill/ FRC Defended Ugandan ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill,] ''Dispatches from the Culture Wars''</ref>

==Other insane bullshit==
Keeping in line with his prior reputation as a truly deluded goofball, Gary Bauer decided to make use of the shooting of [[Pakistan]]i [[women's rights]] activist [[Malala Yousafzai]] by [[Taliban]] thugs to blame the parties ''he'' thought were responsible &mdash; namely, [[Sandra Fluke]] and the "American left". There's probably no microscope powerful enough to find a shred of logic in that argument, of course, but when has that ever stopped Bauer before?<ref>[http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gary-bauer-attacks-sandra-fluke-over-shooting-pakistani-education-activist Gary Bauer Attacks Sandra Fluke over Shooting of Pakistani Education Activist,] Right Wing Watch</ref>

In June 2013, Bauer asserted that the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court's]] decision against the [[Defense of Marriage Act]] [[Persecution complex|would lead to anti-gay "activists" going to jail for merely expressing their opinion publicly]], which would seem to set a new personal record by Bauer for [[PIDOOMA|pulling a nonsensical conclusion out of the thin air it was apparently based on]].<ref>[http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bauer-anti-gay-activists-may-be-thrown-jail-following-doma-ruling Bauer: Anti-Gay Activists May Be Thrown in Jail Following DOMA Ruling,] Right Wing Watch</ref>

And then there's Josh Duggar, [[19 Kids and Counting]] star and former executive director of the FRC,<ref>[https://archive.ph/XZ30b The Web Has Known About Josh Duggar for Years. When Did TLC Find Out?] by Allie Jones (05/22/15 12:21PM) ''Gawker'' (archived from 6 Aug 2020 14:48:24 UTC).</ref><ref>[http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/flashback-duggars-call-lgbt-people-threat-child-safety-duggar-resigns-frc Flashback: Duggars Call LGBT People A Threat To Child Safety; Duggar Resigns From FRC] by Brian Tashman (May 21, 2015 6:20 pm) ''Right Wing Watch''</ref> who was convicted of possession of child pornography in 2021.<ref>[https://apnews.com/article/josh-duggar-convicted-child-pornography-26436604345361733003627af33bda78 Reality TV’s Josh Duggar convicted of child porn possession]. Associated Press, 9 December 2021.</ref>

==Support for Wesley Goodman==
In 2017, it was revealed that Perkins knew that a candidate he was supporting for the [[Ohio]] legislature, Wesley Goodman, had fondled a male 18-year-old college student in his sleep.<ref name=kindy>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-a-conservative-group-dealt-with-a-fondling-charge-against-a-rising-gop-star/2017/11/17/b3b4b8da-c956-11e7-b0cf-7689a9f2d84e_story.html How a conservative group dealt with a fondling charge against a rising GOP star] by Kimberly Kindy & Elise Viebeck (November 17, 2017) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> Perkins indicated privately that he would address this issue, but instead attempted to [[Coverup|cover it up]].<ref name=kindy/>

==See also==
*[[American Decency Association]]
*[[American Family Association]]
*[[Focus on the Family]]
*[[Family Research Institute]]

==External links==
*[http://www.frc.org/ Official shite]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Abortion]]
[[Category:Atheophobia]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Fundamentalist Christian organizations]]
[[Category:Global warming denialists]]
[[Category:Hate groups]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Islamophobia]]
[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Paleoconservatism]]
[[Category:Political action groups]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations]]
[[Category:Purity culture]]
[[Category:Sexism]]

Categories: Abortion, Atheophobia, Conspiracy theorists, Fundamentalist Christian organizations, Global warming denialists, Hate groups, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Misnomers, Paleoconservatism, Political action groups, Pseudoscience promoting organizations, Purity culture, Sexism