Politifact has taken on anti-gay hate group leader Tony Perkins, f the Family Research Council, statements during his recent appearance CBS’ Face the Nation saying that wedding vendors have already been “forced” to serve same-sex couples.
“We’re already seeing bakers and florists and photographers forced to participate in same-sex marriages under the threat of law and in some cases even jail. I can’t think of anything that’s more un-American than that. … ”
Host Bob Schieffer responded: “How is it that bakers and florists are being forced to participate in this? I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying here.” (Schieffer also doesn’t obviously understand that he should be doing research so he can fact check Perkins live on air)
Perkins replied: “Well, we’re seeing in Washington state, Colorado, and some of the other states that have these anti-discrimination statutes that are being imposed, that when a same-sex couple comes and says, ‘I want you to take pictures of my wedding,’ or ‘I want you to bake a cake.’ And they say, ‘Look, my religious convictions will not allow me participate in that,’ they’re literally being sued by the government, not the individuals, and they’ve even been adjudicated in such places as New Mexico. So we’re going to see a loss of religious freedom. There is no question about it. It’s already happening.”
Luckily Politifact did do Bob Schieffer’s job and fact checked Perkins statements and ripped it to shreds:
We didn’t find cases where people were forced to participate against their will. However, if vendors refuse service, there are consequences. There are 21 states that forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation. Vendors who refuse service there could face legal actions and fines. The “jail” part of Perkins’ claim is an exaggeration. We couldn’t find any evidence that a vendor had been sent to jail or that any legal authority had threatened jail time. In some states, if a business owner loses an anti-discrimination case and refuses to comply with an order, the owner could face jail, but we found no evidence of that ever happening. One state, Colorado, specifically took action to remove the threat of jail.
Last night after Miss Perkins found out that Politifact had dared to expose her lies and tell the truth she fired off a pissy missive to her hate club trying to do damage control.
The media, in a desperate attempt to downplay the persecution Americans will face for opposing same-sex “marriage,” is resorting to lies from its own “fact-checkers.” They understand, as we do, that it’s harder to vilify someone when you see them suffering for living out their faith. And for dozens of men and women, that suffering is taking place in the form of more than jail time. For them, the nightmare is already here in the form of thousands of dollars in fines, lawsuits, public humiliation, boycotts of their businesses, death threats, and vandalism of their property. This is the real intolerance. And one day, no amount of shoddy journalism will be able to hide it.
Hmmmmm. And who is it that wants special rights again ?