CNN allowed hate group leader  Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), to baselessly accuse marriage equality of creating a slippery slope to polygamy after asking him whether the growing acceptance of homosexuality was to blame for the decriminalization of polygamous relationships in Utah.

On December 13, in the case Brown v. Buhman, U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups struck down a portion of Utah's anti-polygamy statute which aimed at prohibiting polygamous cohabitation, stating that the measure violated constitutionally protected rights of free exercise of religion and due process. Waddoups also cited the Supreme Court's 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down state laws criminalizing gay sex. According to Waddoups, Lawrence pointed to “deeper liberty interests at issue in the home and personal relationships.”

During the December 16 edition of CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront, guest host Jake Tapper invited Perkins and anti-polygamy activist Laurie Allen to ask if Waddoups' decision was a result of the slippery slope created by the decriminalization of gay sex in Lawrence v. Texas. During the segment, Tapper read a Tweet from former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum claiming his predictions about gay marriage leading to polygamy were true and asked “do you think it's fair to make that link” between gay marriage and polygamy?:

Perkins, who routinely links homosexuality to pedophilia and refers to homosexuality as a “lifestyle” of “perversion,” was all-too-happy to use this opportunity to revive his organization's longstanding opposition to Lawrence v. Texas and support for laws criminalizing gay sex. 

Allen, who herself was raised in a polygamous environment and staunchly opposes polygamy, criticized Perkins for attempting to compare polygamous relationships and same-sex relationships, calling his arguments “salacious propaganda.”

Rather than pointing out the absurdity of Perkins' arguments, however, Tapper went on to quote an FRC statement suggesting that the legalization of same-sex marriage might create a “slippery slope” to the legalization of polygamous marriage in the future, despite the fact that the Waddoups did not actually legalize polygamous marriage.

Once again, Perkins took CNN's bait, reveling in the opportunity to blame marriage equality for a decision that did not once mention same-sex marriage.

CNN failed to inform its viewers about Perkins status as a hate group leader, his history of anti-LGBT extremism, or that his organization has a track record of being stunningly, embarrassingly wrong about predicting the consequences of LGBT equality.

Instead, the network found it easier to let a hate group wax poetic about how the Supreme Court really made a mistake when it stopped letting states throw people in jail just for being gay.