Tony Perkins: Supreme Court ruling in favour of equal marriage could mean ‘revolution’

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Tony Perkins, the president of the anti-gay Family Research Council has claimed that the US Supreme Court ruling in favour of equal marriage could lead to “revolution”.

Appearing on the Janet Mefferd show, Perkins said that ruling in favour of equal marriage could create “cultural turmoil” which the US would not recover from.

He also suggested that the court ignored public opinion, saying it regarded itself as in an “ivory tower”.

The Supreme Court will Wednesday begin to consider an appeal against The Defense of Marriage Act, urged on by President Obama and even Bill Clinton, the former President who signed DOMA into US law.

As well as the appeal on DOMA, the Supreme Court today began consider overturning Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in California.

Perkins said: “I think the court is very much aware with the backdrop of the fortieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade just two months ago that interjecting itself in this, especially when you have thirty states that have taken the steps that they have, could literally split this nation in two and create such political and cultural turmoil that I’m not sure we could recover from it.”

When asked by Mefferd why he thought it was important that those opposed to marriage equality took to the streets in protest, Perkins responded that the court “holds itself above public opinion”.

He said: “[Protesting is] very important. We’ve been saying this all along that Americans need to speak out because the court likes to hold itself as being above public opinion, that they live in this ivory tower and don’t pay any attention to what’s going on; they do. I believe the court will push as far as they think they can without creating a social upheaval or a political upheaval in this country.

“They’re smart people, I think, they understand how organizations and how societies work and if you get your substructure out of kilter with the superstructure, if you get government out of whack with where the people are and it goes too far, you create revolution. I think you could see a social and cultural revolution if the court goes too far on this.”

Last month, Perkins Tony Perkins again voiced his opinion that the Boy Scouts of America should leave intact its ban on gay volunteers members and staff, saying that a policy similar to the repealed ban on openly gay people serving in the military would be appropriate.

Late in January, Perkins blamed the repeal of don’t ask don’t tell for suicides in the US military. DADT was repealed on 20 September 2011, amidst warnings that the US military would be aversely affected by the change.

Perkins’ claims go against a study released in September, which revealed that the repeal, one year on, had no negative impact on the US military.

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