The Family Research Council shooting: Was it a hate crime?

An apparent gay-rights supporter opened fire in the office of a conservative Christian organization the Left has labeled a "hate group." Is blood on the Left's hands?

Local and federal investigators gather evidence after a security guard was shot in the arm at the headquarters of the Family Research Council on Wednesday in Washington, DC. Police are decidi
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Police charged Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28, with assault with a deadly weapon on Wednesday after he allegedly walked into the Washington, D.C., lobby of the conservative Family Research Council (FRC) and, when confronted, shot a security guard in the arm. The local police and FBI are trying to discern Corkins' motive to see if federal hate crime, domestic terrorism, or other charges apply. But the commentariat, especially on the Right, has decided that the shooter was driven to violence by his opposition to the FRC's outspokenness against homosexuality and gay marriage: Corkins was reportedly carrying promotional materials for anti-gay-marriage touchstone Chick-fil-A with him, volunteered at a D.C. center for gays and lesbians, and reportedly said in the FRC lobby that his assault was about the group's "values." Even as dozens of LGBT groups jointly denounced the attack, conservatives were vengefully "gathering behind two narratives," says David Sessions at The Daily Beast: "That the media was ignoring the shooting, and that liberal groups that have called FRC a 'hate group' were somehow responsible for the violence." Should the Left have to answer for the FRC shooting?

By the standards of the "culture war," the Left is guilty: "Nobody knows what thoughts were swirling through the suspect's head," says W. James Antle III at The Daily Caller. But it's a fact that the Southern Poverty Law Center and Human Rights Campaign have smeared the FRC as a "hate group," and when you name targets in a "culture war" against gay rights, "should we be surprised to see violence?" We should all agree that "disagreement isn't a hate crime," but by liberals' own standards, the FRC shooting is.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us