Tony Perkins: Men Need to 'Turn Over a Few Tables' in Outrage Over Drag Queen Story Hours

[Initech]

The Family Research Council is holding its annual “Watchmen on the Wall” conference, where pastors and ministry leaders from all over the country gather in Washington, D.C. to hear from members of Congress and Religious Right activists about how to “take a more active role in your community and our government.”

During yesterday’s session, FRC president Tony Perkins led a panel discussion on the supposed assault on manhood and masculinity in America today, during which he called on men to “display some righteous indignation and turn over a few tables in our culture” in response to things like Drag Queen Story Hour.

“I see that and I think, ‘Where are the dads?'” Perkins said. “Men need to begin exerting themselves as leaders, and as you said Pat, ‘That’s my child, I bought them into the world. get your hands off!'”

“I believe it is time for men to express and display some righteous indignation and turn over a few tables in our culture when it comes to our children,” he declared.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/tony-perkins-men-need-to-turn-over-a-few-tables-in-outrage-over-drag-queen-story-hours/

Really? That's what they have to be outraged about? The more they fight this the more they look foolish. I'd personally love to see Tony try to pry a high heel that got loged in his ass.

[gratuitous]

1. Tony sounds a little nervous

I wonder if he's sporting a shame boner, and that's why he's so triggered about this?

[Initech]

12. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he secretly records Drag Race.

[trev]

2. I had never heard of the Drag Queen Story Hour

until one came to the local library earlier this month. I didn't attend the reading, but I watched as the readers showed up and entered the building. I studied the crowd of library patrons pretty closely; didn't see a single look of disapproval or disdain. I was actually impressed by how the people embraced the event, and the room in which it was held was at audience capacity, with others crowding around the door.

A single nutjob stood in the parking lot with a protest sign. He looked like a homeless person, to be honest.

I love the PNW.

[Caliman73]

3. "I brought them into the world" Really? SMH

Look, I am a father. I know about, and am a big proponent of the importance of men in shaping the identities of both their sons and daughters. HOWEVER, I have never, not once, had the audacity to say, "I brought you into the world" you know why?, because I did not carry that child in my uterus for 9 months suffering significant changes to my body in the process and I did not go through the pain of child birth. I contributed my DNA and I supported my partner. My wife said that she couldn't have done it without me, but I know that she is being nice and she certainly could have given birth without me there.

That said, my questions to Perkins are, "Can you define masculinity?" What does it mean to be a "man"? If he can answer that thoughtfully then I would give him a little more credence. He likely cannot, without going into some stupid explanation based on a book based on the oral traditions of nomadic middle eastern tribes written hundreds upon hundreds of years after the supposed events and then translated over and over again, basically a slightly more sophisticated game of telephone.

Anyway, again, fathers are extremely important in society, but if they want to have an impact in the lives of their children, then they don't need to be "leaders" and the certainly don't need to "turn over a few tables" metaphorically or otherwise. We need to be present, we need to be guides, not "leaders". We need to create a safe space for our children to explore the world. We need to show our sons that it is normal and acceptable to express emotions other than anger and to solve things in ways other than aggression and violence. We need to model for our daughters what it is to have a good partner, how a man should treat his wife, or husband, or any other human being. We need to do the same for our sons.

Perkins is an idiot. He is grasping at the remains of a system that has really hurt women and put men into a box. He needs to go.

[smirkymonkey]

5. +1000

Thank you for that! Great post.

[lunatica]

8. You are a father every child should have.

And I’m sure your children are the better people for it.

[Caliman73]

9. Thanks.

I am by no stretch of the imagination perfect or anywhere close.

My philosophy as a father is that it is my job, to help my kids to leave home, be able to adapt to the world outside, to be better (and by better I don't mean more money, or more things) to me that means to be less burdened by emotional baggage and to treat people and the world better than I did; and form their own families. Of course they will always be my children and I want them around and our home will always be their home, but that is the purpose of parenting to help children become who they are going to be and move on through their lives.

I am sure my kids could dish a lot of dirt on times when I come up short on that ideal, but I know the my dad's upbringing was better than my grandfathers, and I know that my upbringing was better than my dads, I just want to keep the progress going.

I think that people like Perkins who are stuck in this "past" that never really even existed in the way they think it did, are pathetic. The problem is though, they have a megaphone and a certain amount of power. People listen to them and that makes them dangerous.

[lunatica]

10. I agree with your intent as a parent

Bringing children up to fulfill their potential, not yours, is good parenting. It’s being aware of their needs as developing human beings and doing your best to meet those needs. It’s not easy because in many ways it’s a pioneering experience in the sense that not everyone parents in this way. Keep up the hardest job you’ll ever have and love!

[Docreed2003]

15. +1

[trev]

17. "basically a slightly more sophisticated game of telephone"

Excellent! I've been a biblical scholar for 25 years, and I'd never thought to use that analogy before. It is completely fitting.

Thank you.

[monmouth4]

4. Tony should be outraged re children in cages, children dying in custody..sigh. n/t

[EveHammond13]

6. +1

[Caliman73]

11. It isn't about the children. It is about the power of men...

and a stupid and outdated idea of what "masculinity is. In my opinion, to people like Perkins, children are possessions. Their value is wrapped up in how they represent your accomplishments as a "man" and allow you to fulfill your "masculine" role as protector, provider, etc... which is why it seems so easy for those types of men to disown or separate themselves from their sons or daughters who are LGBT or do not conform to other expected norms.

When you talk about Brown children in cages or Black children brutalized by police and society, those are foreign. "That's not my kid, and not my responsibility" Conservatives seem to have a very difficult time experiencing sympathy not to mention empathy for anyone that is not directly related to their sense of self. I don't want ANY children to EVER be in cages or damaged by society. It hurts me even though I don't know them. The idea hurts me. To conservatives in general and Perkins' ilk specifically, those actual children do not even register. Their own children as I said, only seem to register when they conform to the ideals that are laid out for them.

[monmouth4]

14. You've nailed it exactly. Many thanks. n/t

[EveHammond13]

7. always this way - no guts to do it himself, incite others to violence

[spanone]

13. fuck you perkins.

go away.

[GoCubsGo]

16. Men need to tell Tony Perkins to STFU.

I don't think there's much room for a high heel, as he already as a huge rod lodged up his ass.

[cynatnite]

18. That kind of thing gets you thrown in jail these days or at least a restraining order. n/t