Enough Rick Perry Lies About Gays, Children, And Marriage
GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry on Friday, just hours before the deadline, filed his paperwork to formally become a candidate in the New Hampshire Republican primary. Perry paid the $1000 fee and shortly thereafter went on stage and lied. Rick Perry lies a lot (“I don’t know” if Obama’s birth certificate is real, homosexuality is like alcoholism, Texas teaches evolution and creationism, the science on climate change isn’t settled,) but this particular lie against gays, children, and marriage was not only wrong, it was pure bigotry — and pure evil.
That Governor Perry waited until the very last minute to file for such an important event made me chuckle. For a moment I imagined perhaps Perry was busy taking his two children, Griffin and Sydney, to school, or to a baseball game, or even, perhaps, hunting, at the family hunting camp, Niggerhead. Of course, the two Perry offspring are now in their mid-twenties so that imaginary scenario wasn’t likely, and no doubt the Governor had plenty of help raising his children, and plenty of government benefits to help financially, too. Unlike all gay couples raising children.
“As conservatives we believe in the sanctity of life,” Perry said, in front of 450 voters and supporters in the state’s largest city, Manchester. “We believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage. And I applaud those legislators in New Hampshire who are working to defend marriage as an institution between one man and one woman, realizing that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father.â€
Children, Governor Perry, need to be raised in a loving home. Period. If that home is headed by a man and a woman, two women, or two men, I really don’t care, and neither do the children. And neither should you.
There is not one shred of evidence that shows children growing up in a household headed by heterosexual parents do any better than children growing up in a household headed by homosexual parents. In fact, the science says that in some cases, children actually do better in households headed by same-sex couples — probably, at least in part, because those gay or lesbian parents had to work really hard to actually be able to adopt children. And, like I said, we have the science that proves it.
The lie that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father is just that — a lie. Two long-​term studies published in the past two years found just the opposite. In fact, one of them, a twenty-​five year-​long and vigorously peer-​reviewed study published in the journal Pediatrics, found that adopted children raised by lesbian parents are better–adjusted and do better in school than their opposite-​parented peers. Add to this the fact that we now have, “a study of gay dads that finds they are more likely than straight ones to focus on parenting over career, at least when their children are young.â€
Additionally, we do know that states that offer same-sex marriage equality also have the lowest rates of child homelessness.
(And while same-sex parent-headed households aren’t perfect, we certainly don’t have any reports like this for children being raised by same-sex couples.)
Even if Governor Perry and his ilk — like the National Organization For Marriage — actually are successful in their march into the 18th century, same-sex couples will continue to raise families and grow. Which means that re-establishing a second-class citizenship structure will only serve the egos of the bigots, not the needs of the children, who have what they need in terms of parents, but not what they need in terms of equality.
Republicans these days talk a lot about the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans, talking about business and social issues, continue to claim that they believe in equality of opportunity, not the equality of outcome. I think that’s a fair principle. And I think they should apply it to those they claim to care about the most: families.
Why shouldn’t families headed by gay or lesbian parents have the same equality of opportunity as families headed by straight parents?
Twenty-two months ago, New Hampshire became the sixth state to allow same-sex couples marriage equality, after a challenging battle during which the Democratic Governor insisted on heightened religious protections before he would sign the bill into law in 2009.
But Texas Governor Rick Perry doesn’t know the first thing about New Hampshire, or gay marriage, or states’ rights, or what children really need. Because Governor Perry, up until a few months ago, thought that states should have the right to allow same-sex marriage because it was, in his words, a states’ rights issue. Until the Religious Right went crazy and Perry retreated into a Texas-sized corner.
Now, Perry thinks not only should same-sex marriage not be an option, but that New Hampshire should actually ram down the people’s throats a repeal of marriage equality, in a state that believes the law should stay — by a two-to-one margin.
“What we’ve found is those people who are in favor of gay marriage are much more intense in their positions and much more likely to take action politically then are opponents of gay marriage,” says University of New Hampshire pollster Andrew Smith, who finds that 62% of New Hampshire residents want the law to remain, and only 27% would support a repeal.
Sadly, for the theocratic Governor Perry, Smith also finds that “44 percent of those polled would oppose a candidate who favors a repeal,” according to a report by New Hampshire Public Radio earlier this month.
But the reality is that Perry isn’t running for Governor of the Granite State, and he’s not running for president (yet,) he’s running for the Republican nomination for president, and that means having lots of racism and bigotry on tap.
Rick Perry has spent a good part of his adult life at his family hunting camp named “Niggerhead,” so racism and bigotry are right up his alley. And that’s exactly where, as far as I’m concerned, Rick Perry can put his views on gays, families, children, and marriage.
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All three states considered to be the Pacific Northwest of the United States are ranked in the top 10 when it comes to anti-Black hate crimes.
The new study produced by the Mendoza Law Firm, which specializes in immigration, ranked all 50 states based on the average number of anti-Black hate crimes per 100,000 members of the Black population. While Vermont ranked No. 1 in the study with 240.6 crimes per 100,000 people, there are only 7,316 Black residents of the state.
Of the Pacific Northwest states, Oregon ranked the highest—No. 2 overall—with 121 crimes per 100,000 people. Idaho ranked No. 4 with 91 crimes per 100,000 people, and Washington state ranked No. 9 with 44.4 crimes. However, Washington had the highest Black population out of the top 10 states with 311,435 residents. Oregon has the second-highest of the top 10 with 82,453 residents.
Conversely, many southern states ranked at the bottom. Mississippi has the lowest number of anti-Black hate crimes with just 0.9 crimes per 100,000 people, followed by Arkansas and Florida with 1.6, and Georgia and Louisiana with 1.7. Though these southern states have much larger Black populations—for example, of the bottom five, all but Arkansas have well over 1 million Black residents with Georgia and Florida both having over 3 million—the number of hate crimes in those states is also lower than both Washington and Oregon.
The study looked at FBI anti-Black hate crime statistics between 2021 and 2025. The number of hate crimes over these five years was then averaged and compared versus the average Black population between 2020 and 2024.
While things may look bleak for the Pacific Northwest, it’s worth noting that in Washington, the number of hate crimes has steadily dropped over the past five years. Washington had 185 crimes in 2021, which dropped to 107 crimes in 2025. Oregon and Idaho’s numbers stayed relatively steady, however; Oregon had between 94 and 105 crimes during that five-year span. Idaho had a low of 7 crimes in 2021, but that jumped up to between 13 and 18 for the following four years.
Washington state is in the process of starting a hate crime hotline. The service will fully launch at the start of 2027, however, the pilot program launched in July 2025 will continue until the end of this year, according to Cleveland Jewish News. The hotline is designed to provide support to victims rather than receive incident reports. It’s under the purview of the state’s Attorney General’s Office, which does not have the authority to investigate crimes. However, it can provide victims assistance in reporting hate crimes to police. Police are also compelled to provide victims the hotline’s number and website for support.
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, an activist minister with the United Church of Christ, has called on the Regal Entertainment chain of movie theaters to stop running a Department of Defense promotional video before films.
In an open letter posted to social media, Currie says that when he went to see the latest Steven Spielberg film Disclosure Day at a Portland, Oregon theater, he was “forced to watch an advertisement touting the leadership of Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and the so-called Department of War.”
“It was like we were at a movie theater in Russia or North Korea. Democracies do not do this. The audience loudly booed,” Currie wrote.
READ MORE: Trump Promotes Chilling Iran War Op-Ed Warning of What Could Be Coming Next
“We routinely see videos at Regal promoting careers in the military. This was not that,” he continued. “This was an advertisement promoting the political views of Donald Trump. It was not promoting our military. It was not promoting America’s greatest strength: our diversity. This was a MAGA campaign commercial highlighting a fake cabinet agency, the Department of War, which is actually called the Defense Department, and the MAGA America First platform.”
The video run before the film was likely this video first released to YouTube on Saturday. The video description calls it the first advertisement by the DoD since it was re-christened the Department of War. The clip touts President Donald Trump’s “Peace Through Strength” slogan. It features footage of soldiers intercut with images of Trump while audio of a speech by the president plays in the background.
The video was also shown during Sunday evening’s Freedom 250 UFC Fight at the White House.
“Regal’s decision to show this video can only be construed as an endorsement of Donald Trump, his failed war in Iran, and the white Christian nationalism advocated by Secretary Hegseth,” Currie wrote. “Again, I must demand that Regal stop showing this video immediately. Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Currie has been an outspoken progressive activist for years. In 2019, he even received death threats for his work, according to the Oregonian. Florida dentist Richard Glenn Kantwill told Currie, as well as other public figures, he would torture and kill him. Kantwill also called Currie an “immoral degenerate” and a fraud.
In 2025, Kantwill was sentenced to two years in prison for making the threats after pleading guilty in court.
Image by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel via the U.S. Army.
Longtime Never-Trump critic turned Democratic congressional candidate George Conway is mocking President Donald Trump in a campaign video and a social media post while the White House targets him in a highly critical attack.
“Hi, Donald, it’s me, George Conway,” Conway, a conservative attorney, says in his video. “I cost you 88 f —— million dollars, and I’ve only just gotten started.”
“I know you like putting your name on everything from your plane to the Kennedy Center,” he continues. “But the only thing your name is gonna be left on when I’m done with you is the orange jumpsuit you’re going to have to wear in prison.”
“And you see that building back there?” he says over an image of Congress. “That’s where we’re gonna hold your third and final impeachment trial. The one that’s gonna put you away for good. And I’m gonna enjoy every minute of that.”
“We’ve got a lot of serious problems in this country, including, and especially, the price of gas — which is hitting $6 a gallon in some places, and that’s all because of you, Donald Trump. We can’t fix those problems until we impeach you and convict you. And that’s why I’m running for Congress.”
In a statement to Fox News, the White House blasted Conway.
“Lightweight George Conway is a stupid person’s idea of a smart person,” a spokesperson said. “His severe and debilitating disease known as Trump Derangement syndrome has melted his brain and made him crazy in the head.”
Conway is a co-founder of The Lincoln Project and was considered for a post as Trump’s Solicitor General at the start of his first administration. Conway withdrew his name from consideration.
On social media, Conway further mocked President Trump.
“Here’s our TV ad that poor wittle Donnie (@realDonaldTrump) didn’t wike and had to compwain to Fox ‘News’ about,” Conway wrote. “Sad! I feel so bad for him.”
Conway is running for a reliably blue seat in Manhattan.
“Conway, who previously lived in Bethesda, Md., before launching his congressional campaign, faces an uphill battle in the race for the heavily Democratic seat vacated by longtime Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who is retiring,” Fox News reported.
Earlier this year, Conway warned, “The way things are going in America, it should be clear we don’t have much time.”
“We certainly don’t have three years,” he said in February. “We need to help ourselves by pushing for impeachment and removal as hard as we can and carrying it out as soon as humanly possible.”
Here’s the ad they’re talking about! pic.twitter.com/vtk80dQ6Af
— George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 (@gtconway3d) June 15, 2026
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