On Mondayâs edition of Washington Watch, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said marriage equality and the repeal of Donât Ask Donât Tell will lead to Americaâs economic collapse. Perkinsâ argument is a little hard to follow, but the gist of it is that gay rights will somehow weaken America to the point that Russia and China feel emboldened to âmove away from the US Dollar as the international standardâ and once âthereâs no confidence in the dollar, this house of cards that has been built comes tumbling down. So there goes the economy all because we ignored the morality of the issues of this administration.â
If Perkins' economic theories were sound and informed by factsâand not complete bullshit informed only by Perkins' homophobic delusionsânations that were homophobic would have strong currencies. But, hey, this is what's happening in rabidly anti-LGBT Russia right now:
The Russian currency crashed to unprecedented lows Tuesday trading at 80 rubles to the dollar and 100 to the euro, testing Vladimir Putinâs ability to ride out both the economic storm and his clash with the West. Moscowâs midnight move to raise interest rates to 17 percent failed to arrest the collapse of the currency. To make matters worse, the White House announced that US President Barack Obama plans to approve tightening sanctions against Moscow.
If hating queer people really, really, really hardâTony's definition of "morality"âinspired confidence in a nation's currency, Russia's ruble would be able to withstand the shock of few economic sanctions. But currencies don't work the way Tony would like them to. Nothing does: The Tony Perkins Gang predicted that 500,000 troops would quit after the repeal of DADT. Only two did.
Another thing that doesn't work the way Tony Perkins would like: God's favor. Unhinged religious conservatives like Perkins are always screaming that God punishes countries that embrace equality for LGBT people and showers blessings on countries that persecute LGBT people. But a quick look at the list of the worst places to be LGBTâIran, Nigeria, Uganda, Russia, Cameroonâmakes it clear that "shitty and fucked" correlates strongly with "rabidly anti-queer."
When will people we stop listening to Perkins? How many ways does he have to be wrong? How many times does he have to show us that he's a hateful and lying sack of shit?