Sex columnist, “It Gets Better” founder and White House guest Dan Savage was speaking metaphorically, of course, when he told a group of students at Winona State University in Minnesota last week that Family Research Council President Tony Perkins “sits on a pile of dead gay kids every day when he goes to work.”
It’s an even more tasteless comment than usual from “anti-bullying” crusader Savage, who called a group of teens “pansy asses” as they walked out of a Christian-bashing speech and said he’s less interested in seeing Mitt Romney’s heart than his “liver and spleen.” After all, Perkins and others at the Family Research Council’s headquarters were fired upon in August by a volunteer at an LGBT organization. Helping to foment anger against the FRC were claims by the Southern Poverty Law Center that the FRC is an “official” hate group — a claim Savage repeats to his audience.
It’s bad enough that, after news of the shooting broke, Twitter lit up with comments that the FRC “totally had it coming.” Savage hopes to keep the FRC in the crosshairs, though, outrageously claiming in his speech that “every dead gay kid’s a victory for the Family Research Council” and that they group will do “everything in their power to make sure that suicide rate does not come down.”
The White House’s favorite “anti-bullying crusader” also got in a shot in at Republicans, saying that the country still has a race problem (“Obviously we do, it’s called the GOP”) and lamenting that “We will always have ignorant dicks like Michele Bachmann and her fag husband.”
CampusReform.org called out Savage on his appearance, but not surprisingly, Savage isn’t backing down.
I'm Dan Savage and I approved — and stand by — this message: http://t.co/ZTMWCyzo
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) October 1, 2012
@fakedansavage wait are we supposed to condemn you for speaking the truth about the FRC?
— rØbert wears a mask so should you. (@rowast) October 1, 2012
One fan called the appearance “funny.”
Dan Savage was brilliant, funny, irreverent, & absolutely inspiring during the talk he gave on "It gets better" at Winona State last night!
— Andrea Wood (@a_d_wood) September 28, 2012
Funnier still was the rainbows and sunshine headline in the Winona Daily News hailing the event: “Writer, activist Dan Savage creates hope for LGBT youth.”
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