The Department of Defense reported this week that military suicides reached new heights in 2012, with 349 servicemembers taking their own life last year across the four branches.
The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins thinks he can explain the tragic statistics.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has joined American Family Association's Buster Wilson in linking the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell to the military's suicide rate. Discussing the Pentagon's new policy on allowing women to serve in combat units yesterday on his radio program, Perkins said that the Obama administration's work in "driving Christianity out [and] putting homosexuality in" are "adding additional stress" that leads to a higher rate of suicide.
Right Wing Watch posted the audio of Perkins' comments.
Even by the standards of the religious right movement, this is pretty vile. Not only does Perkins assume that gay people can't be Christian, but he's drawing a truly ridiculous connection, based on nothing but his own bigotry. How does Perkins even imagine this working, exactly? There were 349 servicemembers who felt "stressed" by serving alongside openly-gay soldiers, so they killed themselves?
The mind reels.