In Washington, D.C., a security guard at the Family Research Council (FRC) was shot the morning of Aug. 14 after scuffling with a man who disagreed with the group's conservative viewpoints, according to the Washington Post.
The gunman has been identified as Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28, a resident of Herndon, Va., according to CNN.com . He worked at the LGBT-rights organization The DC Center.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Corkins walked into the lobby of the building at about 10:45 a.m. The security guard then confronted him, and Corkins opened fire. The guard and others wrestled him to the ground, disarmed him and waited for police.
A law-enforcement official said that during the scuffle Corkins expressed views different from those of the FRC. The official also said Corkins was carrying a bag that had a Chick-Fil-A bag inside. Chick-Fil-A President Dan Cathy has expressed views about same-sex marriage that are similar to the council's.
According to the council's website, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said, "The police are investigating this incident. Our first concern is with our colleague who was shot today. Our concern is for him and his family."
On the organization's "Marriage, Family & Sexuality" website page, it's written that "'families' are formed only by ties of blood, marriage, or adoption, and 'marriage' is a union of one man and one woman."
A statement signed by the leaders of 25 LGBT organizations—including MassEquality, Truth Wins Out and the Human Rights Campaign, among others—reads, "We were saddened to hear news of the shooting this morning at the offices of the Family Research Council. Our hearts go out to the shooting victim, his family, and his co-workers.
"The motivation and circumstances behind today's tragedy are still unknown, but regardless of what emerges as the reason for this shooting, we utterly reject and condemn such violence. We wish for a swift and complete recovery for the victim of this terrible incident."
The blame game
Afterwards, Perkins accused the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of sparking hatred that led to Corkins' actions, calling the shooting "an act of domestic terrorism," according to the Washington Post.
He said, "Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations as hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy."
In a statement, Mark Potok—senior fellow of the SPLC and editor of its Intelligence Report and Hatewatch blog—said that his group "deplores all violence, and our thoughts are with the wounded victim, Leo Johnson, his family and others who lived through the attack."
Potok then said, "Perkins' accusation is outrageous. The SPLC has listed the FRC as a hate group since 2010 because it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda about LGBT people—not, as some claim, because it opposes same-sex marriage. The FRC and its allies on the religious right are saying, in effect, that offering legitimate and fact-based criticism in a democratic society is tantamount to suggesting that the objects of criticism should be the targets of criminal violence.
The organization Truth Wins Out (TWO), which combats anti-gay religious extremism, has also weighed in on the situation. TWO Director of Communications John Becker said in a statement that the shooting "does not exonerate the Family Research Council and other anti-gay hate groups from the decades they've spent slandering, demonizing, and actively lying about the LGBT community."
