The rumors out today that Texas Governor Rick Perry is gay are a “smear,” according to Fox Nation, a brand of the Fox News Channel. In “Left-Wing Politico Spreads Rick Perry Gay Smear,” Fox Nation merely republishes most of a piece in The Advocate, titled, “Politico Warns of Perry Gay Rumor By Retelling It.”
“A story by Politico predicts that if Texas governor Rick Perry runs for president, he will again have to deal with unproven rumors that he’s gay. Meanwhile, the story itself is helping spread the rumors once more.
“The Drudge Report linked to the speculation with the headline “Media Digs Up Rumors.” On the more liberal side of the political spectrum, The Huffington Post wrote up a story about the “Rick Perry Gay Rumors.”
“Politico reports that “the crusted-over rumors were in the ether among some attendees at a dinner hosted last week by the Manhattan County GOP, where Perry gave the keynote speech.”
The only paragraph that Fox leaves out is this salient last one:
“For his part, Perry continues to be staunchly antigay. He plans to host a prayer-apalooza in August at a Houston football stadium, and praying to end homosexuality’s effect on society is on the agenda, organizers have confirmed. The big event is being run in partnership with the American Family Association, which is categorized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group†for its spreading misinformation that the SPLC says is dangerous to gay people.”
Since we’re republishing works, I’ll quote our own Jay Morris, who last week wrote on these pages that,
“Perry has awakened the majority by his alliance with a hate group. The Houston Clergy Council released a statement requesting that Governor Perry leave ministry to the clergy and “refocus his energy on the work of governing our state,†noting that the AFA is not only an anti-​gay hate group, but has also “been stridently anti-​Muslim, going so far as to question the rights of Muslim Americans to freely organize and practice their faith.â€
“The event has grabbed the interest of non-​clergy organizations as well, spawning an online petition to be hand delivered to the Governor’s office by members of GetEQUAL demanding that the Governor remove himself from the event or remove the AFA as a sponsor. But Perry hasn’t yet backed down. In fact, in a recent interview with Fox News, Perry and Fox News’ Neil Cavuto exchanged the following dialogue:
Cauvuto: You have kind of like the Chris Christie phenomenon: very popular outside your state, still popular but not nearly as popular within your state. There are even Tea Party groups within your state who like you but don’t love you. […] What do you say?
Perry: I say that a prophet is generally not loved in their hometown. That’s both Biblical and practical.
“Robin McGehee, the National Director of GetEQUAL, suggests the event deserves bold action, stating:
From conservative religious bashing to ballot bashing to queer bashing — too often these voices of hate dominate our communities in an effort to strip away our dignity. Sadly, these coordinated efforts lead to self-​hate, self-​violence and hate crimes. It is our hope that a unified voice of dignity, love and equality will take bold action in Houston and wherever the voices of bigoted prejudice, discrimination and hate exist to say, ‘enough is enough.’
Agreed that enough is enough, and agreed that the idea of being called “gay” should be a smear.