Antigay Retired General Named to Family Research Council Post

The Family Research Council, one of the nation's leading right-wing groups, has appointed retired Army general William G. "Jerry Boykin," known for his anti-Muslim and antigay statements, as executive vice president, a position that has been vacant for several years.

Boykin is infamous particularly for speeches he has given at churches saying terrorists and dictators around the world "will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus." Discussing Somali warlord Osman Atto, who escaped narrowly capture by forces under Boykin's command in Mogadishu in 1993, Boykin said the U.S. Army eventually caught up with him because "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

Boykin later said he was referring to Atto's worship of money and not his Muslim faith, but he has made many other anti-Muslim comments and cast the war on terror in terms of a Christian battle with demonic forces.

On gay issues, earlier this year Boykin said the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" "has increased the pace of our decline morally within our government institutions."

FRC president Tony Perkins, in announcing Boykin's appointment Friday, said the retired military man will "advocate for policies that uphold our national security" in addition to overseeing day-to-day operations of the group. In Perkins's opinion, "the Obama administration has undermined our nation's security and increased the risk to those who serve by systematically using our nation's military to advance a liberal social agenda."