Ben Carson doesn’t hate gays hard enough for Tony Perkins

octobre 30, 2015

Ben Carson doesn’t hate gays hard enough for Tony Perkins

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You guys, remember how during the Republican debate on Wednesday Ben Carson got asked to reconcile his flagrantly anti-gay views with the fact that he was on the Costco’s and Kellogg’s board while the company was implementing some rather pro-equality company policies?

The audience booed the question. The LGBT community rolled its eyes. And Tony Perkins apparently did a spit take at how unacceptably pro-gay Carson’s answer was.

Yep, really. From Reuters:

Tony Perkins, via Gage Skidmore / Flickr

“I think he has to explain this,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Christian conservative lobbying group Family Research Council. “As he is pursuing the presidency, what he has to make clear is that the board positions should not be reflective of his public policy.”

Perkins and other conservative leaders say they fear that some of the changes at American corporations could be used to punish employees with unpopular political views. They worry, for instance, that workers who do not support same-sex marriage could be found in violation of anti-discrimination policies.

That Ben Carson — who thinks being gay is a choice, same-sex marriage caused the fall of the Roman Empire and ex-gay conversion therapy isn’t all that bad — is somehow not homophobic enough for Tony Perkins is so, so cute.

Because for Perkins, it isn’t enough to protect people’s deeply-held religious beliefs. In order to earn his vote, you have to prove that you have worked to make life more difficult for LGBT people in both public and private capacities.

Never mind the fact that Costco and Kellogg’s are now considered two of the best brands in the country precisely because of the strong LGBT protections they put in place while Carson was on the board — such as banning discrimination based on gender identity and providing health insurance for employees’ same-sex partners — Perkins is a thousand percent sure that discrimination was and always will be a necessary and good business decision.

And everyone else is a thousand percent sure that he’s wrong.

(h/t Towleroad)