In his Thursday interview of the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, CNN host Don Lemon questioned Perkins if his group had come out strongly enough against the beating of a homosexual man in Atlanta.
The conservative organization opposes the lifestyle of homosexuality, and Lemon is an openly-gay anchor who has said before that he aims to "change minds" through his reporting. Lemon has continually promoted gay rights on the air while largely ignoring those supporting the other side of the issue. [Video below the break.]
He told Perkins that "you and the Family Research Council believe homosexuality is a sin and you're against gay rights," before asking "But doesn't that young man have the right to his own personal safety?" Apparently, the FRC's stand against homosexuality invites a legitimate charge that it advocates violence.
Lemon followed that up by grilling Perkins over not issuing a press release condemning the attack – as if the organization, because they don't issue individual press releases for each violent anti-gay incident, can thus be questioned about being anti-gay.
"But when you hear what happened there on the street and you hear the gay slurs that those attackers are shouting, are you concerned though that you're not doing enough to mitigate this sort of hatred like this because when things like this happen, there is no press release from the Family Research Council that condemns this sort of behavior?" Lemon absurdly asked.
Perkins, meanwhile, condemned the act of violence and defended the victim's right to protection. "I don't put out press releases when there's another crime committed. I mean, that's not what we do. That's not what we're focused on. We're focused on public policy as it pertains to the family," he answered Lemon.
