Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, New York faith leaders, and members of Faithful America delivered a petition with 20,000 signatures to MSNBC studios in New York City's Rockefeller Center on Tuesday asking that the network stop inviting Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on its programs as a "Christian" spokesman.
The group argues that Perkins has a his track record of "telling hateful lies" about the LGBT community — a record that has led to his organization being named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — and therefore should not be offered by reputable news media as a representative of the Christian or any other faith tradition.
Faithful America's petition says:
MSNBC has built its business on progressive viewers, and they need to hear that we find it unacceptable to provide an unquestioning platform for the religious right's hatred and fear-mongering.... The Family Research Council is a hate group, and journalists ought to treat it as such. MSNBC must stop inviting Family Research Council spokespeople on the air to represent the views of Christians and other people of faith.
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