In addition of being a staunch "ex-gay" supporter who served on the board of the PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-gays) advocacy organization and who testifies before lawmakers in favor of reparative therapy, Family Research Council senior fellow Peter Sprigg has admitted what he wants to see when it comes to LGBT people. Speaking to Medill Reports, a production of Northwestern University School of Journalism, Sprigg said, as plain as day, that "he would prefer to export homosexuals from the United States." Then, a short time later, he told MSNBC host Chris Matthews that he thinks the Supreme Court's action against sodomy laws was "wrongly decided" and that he would "think here would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.” Those clips here:
Now, to be fair, he attempted to roll back the first comment a few days later, saying he "used language that trivialized the seriousness of the issue and did not communicate respect for the essential dignity of every human being as a person created in the image of God." But frankly, that does little to change it. Saying you want to "export" gay Americans is not a slip-up. It's not something you mistakenly say because you haven't had your morning coffee. To the vast majority of people, including even social conservatives, it's a notion to wacky to be in the mouth, much less on the tip of the tongue.
He's never apologized for saying he wants to criminalize us, and has, in fact, doubled down when confronted.
And yet despite this clearly stated agenda that flies in the face of what the other side claims it wants, a highly connected organization with standing bookings on Fox News and other outlets, continues to use Sprigg as its senior voice on issues like marriage. Sprigg provides analysis, does hits on networks like CNN, and fills in for boss Tony Perkins on his radio show. Just yesterday, Sprigg wrote the organization's official response of a federal judge's strike against Kentucky's discriminatory marriage ban:
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Earlier today U.S. District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II struck down Kentucky's marriage amendment which had been approved by 75 percent of the state's voters.Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies, made the following comments:"Judge Heyburn's contention that 'serious people' don't support the definition of marriage that has existed for millennia, demonstrates a measure of contempt - for tens of millions of citizens - wholly unacceptable from someone on the bench."On the contrary, it is those like Judge Heyburn, who can conceive of no 'rational basis' for distinguishing the type of relationship which reproduces the human race from all other types of relationship, who cannot be considered 'serious people.'
This is a man who, if his stated "logic" were allowed to play out the way he wants, would find people like me literally thrown in jail, perhaps on some remote non-American island somewhere, for simply being gay. That's not an overstatement. Peter's one-two punch of "exporting" and criminalizing suggests exactly that. Couple these chilling goal with some of Peter's other comments (e.g. “The most effective way of reducing teen suicide attempts is not to create a 'positive social environment' for the affirmation of homosexuality. Instead, it would be to discourage teens from self-identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual;" “There is, for example, a single and simple solution for smoking-related illnesses, and we have all heard it—‘If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, quit.’ It’s long past time for public health authorities to say the same” (about being gay); homosexuality is "harmful to the people who engage in it and to society at large;" etc.) and there is no denying that he wants an America gay people are, at best, invisible and, more likely, gone.
With this stuff on the record, you'd think FRC would at least move Sprigg to another department. Maybe let him take on fiscal matters or give young staffers classes on thoughts you might wan to keep in your head lest they do harm to your organization's reputation. But no. Not only has Mr. Sprigg maintained his high power role with this organization several years after he uttered his most infamous comments, but he remains the go-to guy on LGBT rights matters. He is the one who they task with bringing "reason" to rulings like the one in Kentucky. It truly boggles the mind.
The only rightful assumption is that Sprigg's stated goals are shared by his host organization. Seems to me like a good thing for Fox News host Megyn Kelly to ask Tony Perkins the next time the FRC prez makes one of his near-weekly appearances on her show.