Tony Perkins, Family Research Council President, On Claim Of Link Between Homosexuality And Pedophilia

At the Values Voters Summit over the weekend, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, had two words for LGBT and progressive groups who took out an ad in The Washington Post which stated that his organizations groundless demonization of LGBT people, linking homosexuality with pedophilia, is contrary to the highest ideals of the nation: Theyre wrong.

Six LGBT and progressive groups -- including the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and the Southern Poverty Law Center -- purchased the ad last week, which was an open letter calling on Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus to disassociate the GOP from the Family Research Council, which hosts the Values Voter Summit , and from other anti-LGBT groups that sponsor annual conference of conservative Christian voters.

The reason is simple, the LGBT and progressive groups stated in the ad. These groups engage in repeated, groundless demonization of LGBT people -- portraying them as sick, vile, incestuous, violent, perverted, and a danger to the nation. The Family Research Council, the summits host, is vigorously opposed to extending equal rights to the LGBT community. Its president, Tony Perkins, has repeatedly claimed that pedophilia is a 'homosexual problem.'"

"I think its consistent with what liberals are doing," Perkins responded to the ad, in an interview with me on SiriusXM Progress at the Values Voters Summit. "The problem is, theyre afraid of debate. Theyre afraid of the truth, because it gets in the way of their efforts to fundamentally redefine our culture and our country. As you can see, folks are here. Theyre not going to back up. Theyre going to continue to speak truth whether or not the left wants to hear it.

To the specific criticism that FRCs linking of gays with pedophiles is extreme and out-of-step with the political establishment, Perkins responded, Well, theyre wrong.

Listen to the interview: