The Tony Perkins Award

That's the one awarded to shameless liars, and today it goes to -- (Ta Dah!) -- Tony Perkins:

At the sentencing of the man behind that awful, despicable, scary, resoundingly denounced incident of gunplay that played out at the Family Research Council's headquarters in the summer of 2012, FRC president Tony Perkins read a statement in front of a District Court judge. Here is some of what said about the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks discriminatory groups:

Here's the SPLC's page on FRC. The tip of the iceberg:

The Family Research Council (FRC) bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power,” but its real specialty is defaming gays and lesbians. The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Read the whole entry to see just what a collection of liars and fanatics the FRC is.

Here's the SPLC's response to Perkins' lies about the link between the Corkins shooting and FRC's hate group status:

The Family Research Council, which was recently designated as a hate group by the SPLC because of its dissemination of false and demonizing propaganda about gays and lesbians, has launched a campaign against the SPLC that includes an advertisement in two Washington newspapers. . . .

Generally, the SPLC's listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods - claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities - and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

"Known falsehoods" -- that sounds like Tony Perkins, doesn't it?

And here's the SPLC's response to the ad, in which Mark Potok goes right down the line and demolishes every lie that Perkins, et al., have been telling. It's blistering.

Perhaps someone should point Perkins to the Eighth Commandment. I believe it's in Exodus 20:17.