Tony Perkins: Star Wars 'surrenders to gay empire'

An evangelical leader is calling on his army of followers to take action against a software company for allowing same sex relationships to be represented in a new Star Wars video game.

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council — a hate group, according the the Southern Poverty Law Center — took to the radio to denounce Bioware's Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game.

"In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists!" Perkins announced during his daily radio commentary. "In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships."

"That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that 'gay' and 'lesbian' don't exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren't."

He continued: "On the game's website, there are more than 300 pages of comments--a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It's time to show companies who the Force is really with!"

In a statement on their website, Bioware explained that same sex relationships were not yet possible in the game.

"Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature," the company wrote. "Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options."

A quick search of Bioware's forum shows that there are probably not "300 pages of comments" on the topic -- and very few if any of the commenters were "angry" about the idea. In fact, most players were more concerned that the featured had not already been released.

"[I]t does feel a bit like bioware neglected the same sex community," a player named Romanticyde wrote. "I hope this will be fixed, in any way."

Watch this video from Family Research Council, broadcast Jan. 27, 2012.

(H/T: Right Wing Watch)