Tom McClusky

A despondent Tony Perkins hosted the Family Research Council’s post-election special “Election 2012: Aftermath & Aftershocks,” which featured Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep-elect. Mark Meadows (R-NC), Derek McCoy of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, Jim Garlow and FRC Vice President Tom McClusky. The group suffered a huge blow as marriage equality won victories in four states and their effort to oust a pro-equality Iowa justice failed, in addition, FRC’s Faith Family and Freedom Fund invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid Todd Akin, who lost in a landslide.

After speaking to McCoy, Perkins claimed that same-sex marriage will never be morally acceptable or within the bounds of natural law whatever the voters in Maryland and elsewhere say, while McClusky said that “civil disobedience” will now be necessary thanks to marriage equality’s increasing victories.

Garlow, who prior to the election warned that an Obama second term will make America “unrecognizable” and “forever gone,” said that Christians should now expect immense persecution from the government, and Meadows called for Christians to emulate Gideon’s army and remember that “our God will not be mocked.”

Watch highlights here:

Following a very, very passionate appeal to those “struggling with homosexuality,” Family Research Council vice president Tom McClusky told the audience at the Watchmen on the Wall conference today that people should not in good conscience support the right of same-sex couples to wed just as they should not help a depressed neighbor commit suicide. McCluskly was upset that President Obama cited the Golden Rule in his interview where he endorsed marriage equality, a remark that touched a nerve in the Religious Right with activists like Patrick Wooden railed against Obama for “quoting Scripture to debunk Scripture.” McClusky explained that if the Golden Rule is a reason to support the freedom to marry for gays and lesbians, then it would be just like using the Golden Rule to condone suicide.

Watch:

McClusky: The President’s come out for same-sex marriage and in an interview in which he updates the nation on the latest evolution of his views, on this question the President notes that his mind was made up in part by his Christian faith, specifically by the Golden Rule, ‘treat others the way you want to be treated.’ It should be pointed out though that contrary to what the President thinks the Golden Rule alone tells us nothing one way or the other about whether to support same-sex marriage, it isn’t about merely protecting our neighbor’s preferences but advancing our neighbor’s good. In the absence of any moral standard then it would mean then that I would have to give my depressed neighbor—I would have to assist him to commit suicide if it was just a matter of doing what he thinks is best.

Family Research Council vice president Tom McClusky yesterday appeared on The Janet Mefferd Show to discuss a Politico article on how same-sex marriage has become “virtually a dead issue” among the senior brass of the Republican Party. McClusky denied concerns that opposing marriage equality will make the GOP more unpopular by arguing that polls which show growing support for legalizing same-sex marriage are “skewered” [sic] because people are likely lying in opinion surveys out of fear that they would be criticized for revealing their true views to pollsters. “The other side is taking up the cause of bullying and it’s kind of ironic because they’ve really mastered the art of bullying,” McClusky argued, saying that gay rights supporters are trying to “silence” groups like the FRC:

McClusky pushed back against Republican politicians who wanted to prioritize economic issues over social ones, warning that society will “crumble” if same-sex marriage becomes legal:

Mefferd: Ultimately, why do you think this is an issue worth fighting for even if they dub it in the media as a losing issue, the gay marriage issue, why is it worth fighting for?

McClusky: Even more so than the economic issue this is a generational issue. I look at my nieces and nephews, I look at my wife and the children that we hope to have and I understand what would happen to society if marriage were to go away or to be redefined out of existence. Societies that try to do away with marriage, they crumble, they fall apart. We need to emphasize more on the family and without that fight the U.S. will just not be the U.S. anymore.

Mefferd: I unfortunately agree with you on that.

He even floated the creation of a third party composed of disgruntled conservative Republicans and black and Hispanic Democrats who would come together in opposition to gay rights and abortion rights:

Mefferd: If the GOP continues to go in a direction where they will not get on the side of traditional marriage and be willing to fight for it, what do Christians do?

McClusky: I think you will—there are always threats of a third party—I think if something like that were to happen you would see a third party. It would be made up of more than just disgruntled conservative Republicans. On the marriage issue there’s African Americans who normally vote Democratic, there’s Hispanics, and the same on the life issue, and there are a lot of good Democrats like say in the state legislature of New York who fought against same-sex marriage and Maryland who tried to, I think what you see is a lot of people drifting from both parties into a third party or some sort of independent party that is more pro-life and pro-marriage.