02/25/2008
Rick Perry: If Homosexuality Isn't About Sex, Call It Something Else
In the New York Times magazine on Sunday, Deborah Solomon interviewed Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose crusade in defense of the Boy Scouts of America is being supplemented by royalties from his new book On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For. The Boy Scouts, of course have been under fire for their discriminatory policies against gays. Most recently, they were evicted from a Philadelphia building they had leased for nearly 80 years because of the city's anti-discrimination ordinance.
Perry says homosexuality is clearly just about sex, and there's no place for sex in the Boy Scouts.
SOLOMON: Let’s talk about your new book, 'On My Honor,' which draws on your experience as an Eagle Scout and champions the values of the Boy Scouts of America, to whom you are donating your royalties.
PERRY: Yes, to their legal-defense fund.
SOLOMON: Which has been fighting the A.C.L.U., to keep gays out of the scouts. Why do you see that as a worthy cause?
PERRY: I am pretty clear about this one. Scouting ought to be about building character, not about sex. Period. Precious few parents enroll their boys in the Scouts to get a crash course in sexual orientation.
SOLOMON: Why do you think a homosexual would be more likely to bring the subject of sex into a conversation than a heterosexual?
PERRY: Well, the ban in scouting applies to scout leaders. When you have a clearly open homosexual scout leader, the scouts are going to talk about it. And they’re not there to learn about that. They’re there to learn about what it means to be loyal and trustworthy and thrifty.
SOLOMON: But don’t you think that homosexuals might also be interested in being loyal and thrifty?
PERRY: The argument that gets made is that homosexuality is about sex. Do you agree?
SOLOMON: No.
PERRY: Well, then why don’t they call it something else?
Perry recently told the AP: "Most Americans have a live-and-let-live view about homosexuality. Scouting's leaders have the same tolerant view, but they do not believe that someone whose personal agenda is to make an open issue of his sexual orientation should be a Scout leader. Scouting is not about sex, but about building character ... The Boy Scouts is not the proper intersection for a debate over sexual preference."
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Posted 12:03 PM EST by Andy in Books, Boy Scouts, Discrimination, News, Rick Perry, Texas | Permalink
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I suppose then that the argument follows that if heterosexuality isn't about sex, they should call it something else, too?
Posted by: Bryant | Feb 25, 2008 12:20:41 PM
"Why don't they call it something else?" We do. Gay. I know Rich Perry is dumb, but I doubt if he's that dumb, although the people who vote for him because of his "pro-family" positions certainly are.
He is nothing more than a Bush/Rove tool. He was a maleable, useful fool who could hold the Governor's mansion in Austin when Dubya became President. Too bad he case his lot with Rudy. He's over now.
Posted by: sam | Feb 25, 2008 12:25:40 PM
"Scouting ought to be about building character, not about sex." Gee, I wish Gov. Goodhair had been around to tell that to the 18 year old eagle scout who molested me when I was a 12 year old tenderfoot.
Posted by: Smartypants | Feb 25, 2008 12:34:36 PM
As an Eagle Scout, I can say that I wholeheartedly agree with Governor Perry that Scouting should not be about introducing boys to sex...which is why they should forget about whether a Scout Master is homosexual or heterosexual and instead focus their efforts on expelling the (often married) pedophiles from their ranks.
Furthermore, Scout Law says that a Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. I'd say that, in denying homosexuals the opportunity to serve as Scout Masters, the Boy Scouts of America as an organization are breaking Scout Law by failing to be brave, kind, helpful and trustworthy.
Having said all that, I hope the Boy Scouts of America continue to win court rulings saying that they are a private organization and therefore have the right to exclude anyone they wish. After all, I'd hate to have to invite one of these bigots into my bridge club.
Posted by: peterparker | Feb 25, 2008 12:35:54 PM
I had heard from good sources that Perry was a closet case......so why the smug attitude over scouting.
Posted by: dekerivers | Feb 25, 2008 12:37:27 PM
Because he's a clsoet case, well DUH!
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Feb 25, 2008 12:41:26 PM
WAS a closet case? or IS?
The Boy Scouts just think their tenuous membership will dry up if parents become aware of gays in the ranks (think religious objections and fears over pedophiles), so they try to present themselves as entirely str8. Were it not for the Mormons, the Boy Scouts would be a tiny organization. They also make a clear distinction between being trustworthy and trusting, which they aren't.
Posted by: anon | Feb 25, 2008 12:51:27 PM
A homosexual is no more promoting sex by being gay than a heterosexual is promoting sex by being straight. This guy is a moron.
Posted by: Patrick | Feb 25, 2008 12:52:12 PM
okay, i hate to be the nerd of the group here, and being from texas, i certainly hate to make the poor governor look like an uneducated moron, but the word "sex" in homosexuality and heterosexuality isn't referring to HAVING sex (i.e. copulation, fucking, doing the horizontal Lambada)... it's referring to GENDER.
in fact, if you look up "sex" in any online thesaurus, the first words that come up will be gender-related words and references.
the word "homosexual" means 'same-gender'.
so, i'm not quite sure WHAT Perry is talking about... and i'm not sure he understands what he's saying (as he really is a closet case). but the above statement is rather shameful from an EDUCATION standpoint... as well as a LGBT rights standpoint.
plus... we do have a word we normally use... it's called "gay" (or "fabulous"... depending on how you dress).
Posted by: james p. | Feb 25, 2008 12:54:47 PM
There has been rumors flying around Austin about Mr. Perry's proclivities for years. You aren't the first one to suggest it, David.
See, Republicans know that homosexuality should be kept deep in the closet because it's often the case that they do it themselves. And of course, everyone on the planet must behave exactly like they do because the GOP is the "Party of God" (move over, Hezbollah).
The Larry Craig types are anti-gay because they want every gay man to follow the conservative "gameplan" for uptight white males. Get married to a woman, pump out a few kids for the Fatherland, and go troll for policemen in the airport restroom.
Posted by: John | Feb 25, 2008 12:56:41 PM
And here I thought Texas had lost it's village idiot... amazing.
Posted by: Darren | Feb 25, 2008 1:05:38 PM
First, it seems the lady doth protest too much. As others have stated, if homosexuality is "about sex" then what is heterosexuality?
Second, in a state that has brought us Bush and now Perry, and a state that, until recently, has sodomy laws (which Bush even prosecuted in some cases), why is the gay population BOOMING in Texas? Personally, I would rather not live and give my tax money to a state that views me (even more so than our federal government) as less than a human being. I also do not agree with people who state that we shouldn't base our living situation on these circumstance as has been a common rebuttal to said question. I do not agree with populating a state that gives these individuals power and money.
Posted by: Cory | Feb 25, 2008 1:06:14 PM
"The Boy Scouts is not the proper intersection for a debate over sexual preference."
Nice job creating one by banning gays then, idiot.
Posted by: Wes | Feb 25, 2008 1:09:08 PM
Texas was my home state and a source of pride...but I left there over 20 years ago when Houston had a progressive mayor in Kathy Whitmire and the governor was to be Ann Richards... then came the Bush years and it went to hell in a handbasket. I always wanted to move back but my state just gets more and more Religious Right conservative. Maybe someday they will come out of their collective coma.
Posted by: Pugzz | Feb 25, 2008 1:23:14 PM
What a marooooone!
Posted by: FernLaPlante | Feb 25, 2008 1:28:15 PM
And to think this idiot wants to run for President...
Posted by: Bojo | Feb 25, 2008 1:39:44 PM
And to think this idiot wants to run for President...
Posted by: Bojo | Feb 25, 2008 1:40:32 PM
What an embarrassment... Surely, there are more important issues for our Governor to be focused on.
Posted by: Rob | Feb 25, 2008 1:44:58 PM
Yeah, and if heterosexuality isn't about sex, that call that something else too! Asswipe!
Posted by: Jack | Feb 25, 2008 1:45:54 PM
If those in the BSA actually went back to their roots and read 'Scouting for Boys' they would see that B-P was in favour of people from all races, creeds, backgrounds and genders to become scouts. The BSA are clearly just a homophobic organisation and there is nothing in the true spirit of Scouting that backs up their aversion to gays.
Posted by: UK Gay Scout | Feb 25, 2008 1:47:36 PM
PeterParker, unless you are holding your bridge club in a public place or with the benefit of substantial public subsidies (like the Boy Scouts have done for decades), then you have nothing to worry about. I agree that the Boy Scouts should be considered a private club if that is their wish, but I also agree that they should receive absolutely zero accommodation from the government if they insist on being exclusive.
Posted by: Adam | Feb 25, 2008 2:28:32 PM
And he's supposed to be a state governor, with those kind of statements. Shame!
Homosexuality is not just about sex, it's a state of mind, just like heterosexuality.
Posted by: Taylor | Feb 25, 2008 2:33:20 PM
And of course, one of the greater ironies of this so-called debate is that the founder of scouting, Lord Baden-Powell, was at the very least a repressed homosexual himself. He spent his life in all male environments and when he married, at the ripe old age of 55, he made his much younger wife cut her hair short and bind her breasts. There's an interesting article that covers this and speculates about his lifelong close friendship with another man at http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/baden_powell_r,2.html
Posted by: Smartypants | Feb 25, 2008 2:36:26 PM
The Boy Scouts is where I had my first sexual experience with a boy, so he needs to get cracking with his Inquisition to rid the scouts of all the hormonal teenagers having sex with each other!!
Ennis and Jack didn't teach me anything about pitching tent!
Posted by: DKNATL | Feb 25, 2008 2:48:54 PM
Religions often make sex a dirty thing. As if the further we distance ourselves from sex, the more accepting "Gods" will be. Ignorant people are tricked into being used for political agendas.
Forget about gods - if it's not about sex, then gods shouldn't take the form of a man or a woman. Just be a rock or mountain! If it's not about sex then there shouldn't be female or male on earth. If it's not about sex but LOVE, what doea Perry care if a man/woman loves another of his/her own kind?
And without sex, Perry would have been crushed and dumped in a tampon.
Idiot!
Posted by: Alfred | Feb 25, 2008 3:35:01 PM
His desperate attempt to speak in code simply didn't work. Guys, Perry is gay, and it is VERY well known in Austin. His nephew, who I know, is gay and delights in telling how Perry's wife leaves him for long periods of time and other assorted family tales. And yes, his wife caught him some time back giving head to a guy in the governor's mansion. He is a pretty nice guy actually.
Posted by: John | Feb 25, 2008 4:05:17 PM
In addition to the many mistatements and misinformation in Perry's rant that people above have pointed out I have to add one more.
He says that "the ban in scouting applies to scout leaders." WRONG, it applies to leades AND SCOUTS. Openly gay scouts are not are banned from participation as well. He knows this. This is yet another example of how these right-wing fundamentalist Christians will say or do anything to promote their agenda no matter how immoral, unethical or unChristian the words or acts may be. The end always justifies the means with them.
Posted by: Zeke | Feb 25, 2008 5:01:08 PM
Perry is a possible future George Bush. We need to ruin him before he gets any further.
Posted by: Miles | Feb 25, 2008 5:06:12 PM
What an embarrassment to the state of Texas this piece of Shit continues to be....
Posted by: Zo | Feb 25, 2008 5:22:12 PM
It is an interesting coincidence that this man is purported to be closeted and trolling for anonymous sex like Larry Craig because to someone like that, homosexuality *is* only about the sex -- they have no feelings for any partner, it is only about sneaking in the physical act (and why is it so usually head? cock-obsessed much?) -- aside from the usual idiotic banter about indoctrination, his comments reek of a desperation that seems a bit out of place with his comfortable office.
Posted by: martymartymarty | Feb 25, 2008 5:33:10 PM
What a maroon... as if gays had anything to do with naming "homosexuality."
Posted by: Lia | Feb 25, 2008 6:35:00 PM
People!!!! Everyone close to Perry thinks he's gay! By attacking gays, he tries to foster the idea that he just couldn't be. Whether you're talking about a gay basher on a dark street, confused about his own sexuality, or Perry bashing from the state capitol, it's all the same thing.
This is the same asshat who said that if gays don't like the state ban on gay marriage, "they can move to another state."
He is dumb, bigoted, and closeted.
Posted by: dattexas | Feb 25, 2008 6:39:06 PM
Believe it or not, Rick Perry is actually dumber than George W Bush, only with better hair. And yes the rumor mill has churned for years in Austin about Perry being gay himself, from rumors of picking up boys on Sixth Street during the 80's when he was a legislator to the story of him being caught by his wife in bed with the (male) Texas Secretary of State several years ago on Super Bowl Sunday. Coincidently, it is also rumored that Texas' "bachelor" Lt. Governor is also gay and has a live in partner.
And don't worry about him running for President. He was reelected governor in 2006 with just 39% of the vote and failed in his bid to support Guliani for President so that he could be Rudy's Veep.
Posted by: Craig | Feb 25, 2008 6:45:13 PM
Based on Dumbass' logic:
If BOY SCOUTING is only about SCOUTING for BOYS, shouldn't this organization be disbanded?
The Boy Scouts always sounded like a younger, legal version of NAMBLA to me.
Posted by: DALTEX | Feb 25, 2008 7:17:02 PM
ADAM...apparently you misunderstood my post. I'm completely in favor of Boy Scout troops being kicked out of governmental buildings. I want as few of my tax dollars as possible going to anti-gay organizations.
And JOHN, 'pretty nice guy(s)' don't go around bashing minorities. Whether he sucks cock or not, Rick Perry is a scumbag.
Posted by: peterparker | Feb 25, 2008 8:55:18 PM
PETERPARKER,
You can exclude whomever you want from your bridge club so long as you don't expect government to provide you the venue gratis, or at a nominal price. otherwise, you should have to include everyone -- even someone like me who couldn't tell you the difference between a suspension bridge or a cantilever bridge, an aqua-duct or a viaduct. ha!
ZO,
Governor Goodhair, as the late, great Molly Ivins used to call him, has never been more than a preening stuffed shirt. Texas has been suffering under the malaise of feckless, if not damaging, governance since that other late, great Texas gal, Ann Richards, was torpedoed by president bushwhack and the devil's avatar, carl rove.
JAMES P.,
Thank you!
Once upon a time, not TOO long ago, "gender" was strictly a grammatical term that denoted the feminine, masculine, or neuter of a noun, pronoun, or related modifier. The words homosexual and heterosexual have, likewise, been perverted.
The prefix "homo-"is not from Latin, which one might interpret as "man" sex, but from Greek, meaning "sameness". "Hetero-", means different. And, "sex" is the quality of one being clinically and physiologically a male or female. Thus, homo-sex has nothing to do with sex as an act, but everything to do with a state of being; that is, a psychic sameness with a like being.
But, really, this is an exercise in futility (to use a trite expression). We are delusional if we hope to interject a modicum of sense into the Repugnicunt brain. indeed, many of us Dems are woefully inadequate; but not dangerously so.
Posted by: nic | Feb 25, 2008 9:16:11 PM
PP,
sorry, i guess the confusion lay in your wishing the BSA kept winning court victories.
Posted by: nic | Feb 25, 2008 9:29:19 PM
PETERPARKER, you took the words right out of my mouth.
How can such a rabidly homophobic person be called a "pretty nice guy" by a gay man? That makes absolutely no sense to me. That would be like a black person in South Carolina in the 50's and 60's taking delight that Strom Thurman slept with black women in secret while legislating against and railing against black people (with the N-word) on the floor of the US Senate AND THEN saying he's actually "a pretty nice guy".
UGH!
Posted by: Zeke | Feb 25, 2008 9:30:38 PM
ZEKE,
give your xtian forberance/self-righteousness a break. it does not become you.
if john is correct, then it validates the reasons why p.o.s. perry desrves our disdain. if i were to buy into your mythology, the devil always approaches as a "nice guy". given that, i think he has a better understanding than you.
Posted by: nic | Feb 25, 2008 10:21:57 PM
As an Eagle Scout and former Asst. troop leader - one of several gay leaders in my Council, I find BSA's actions incredibly disappointing; I wonder whether the family values BSA should also eliminate divorced leaders, leaders who have sex outside of marriage, leaders with HS or college marks lower than a B. etc etc;
Posted by: Grego | Feb 25, 2008 10:26:47 PM
LOL....this guy is clearly nuts
Posted by: A. Ho | Feb 26, 2008 4:30:48 AM
nic/eecummings, Apart from your idiosyncratic capitalization what sets you apart from most commenters is your consistent lack of understanding. Attacking Zeke and his beliefs is all the more shameful because you fail to grasp the most basic message of the devil appearing as a nice guy, yet make the same argument out of ignorance. It is precisely because the nice guy persona is illusory that the devil/Gov. Closet Case warrants our disdain and condemnation. Basic stupidity is understandable but your willful ignorance is not. The confusion you reference is yours alone.
Posted by: rudy | Feb 26, 2008 7:36:53 AM
RUDY,
wtf? lol.
eecummings? wtf? roflmao.
Posted by: nic | Feb 26, 2008 9:20:23 AM
Yikes nic! You are even more uneducated than your previous comments would lead one to believe. Come on out; admit it. You are really a twelve year old girl trolling a gay site for kicks.
Posted by: rudy | Feb 26, 2008 9:28:09 AM
NIC, I'm sorry but I honestly don't understand your comment to me.
My point was that Perry deserves our disdain and that no one, especially not a gay person, should be saying that he's "really a nice guy" the way JOHN did.
I'm not exactly sure where the misinformed sniper attack about my supposed "mythology" came from. I didn't say a word about Christianity or any other religion. I didn't say a word about "the devil". I never would since I don't personally believe in "the devil" or "God" (in a traditional religious sense) or hell or heaven or virgin births or literal death and resurrection or any of the supernatural hocus pocus, unscientific beliefs that come with the various religions; yet I, unlike you, don't attack or ridicule those who do.
I'm not sure how that would fit in with the "xtian forberance [sic]" that you claim I show, especially since I'm actually a Buddhist who was raised a Christian. My “Christian” “faith” is limited to following the teachings and examples of the fully human, Buddhist philosopher Jesus. I also study and try to follow the teachings and examples of other great teachers and philosophers like Gandhi and MLK Jr. Would that make me a G-hian and a Kingist as well? I’ve been very clear about my “faith” (which is actually a life philosophy not a belief in dogma or the supernatural) here on Towleroad for years.
In that light your comment to me was confusing.
For the life of me I can't see how my comment could come across with Christian forbearance and self-righteousness but if it did I would certainly hope that you're right and it is NOT becoming of me or typical of me.
Anyway, sorry if there was confusion but I stand by my earlier comment and the comparison I made to illustrate it.
And really NIC, ad hominem attacks are not becoming.
Posted by: Zeke | Feb 26, 2008 9:41:04 AM
Somebody ought to tell that dick-brain of a governor, Rick Perry, that no one uses the word "homosexual" to describe themselves if they are gay or queer, whatever. The only people who use "homosexual" to describe people who love or lust after people of the same sex are dick-brain evangelical, republicon low-lifes like him. And, be assured, Governor Dick-Brain that my life and the lives of millions of other queer people are surely about more than sex, regardless of what your fetid little dick-brain might imagine.
Posted by: mike | Mar 1, 2008 2:32:14 PM
Somebody ought to tell that dick-brain of a governor, Rick Perry, that no one uses the word "homosexual" to describe themselves if they are gay or queer, whatever. The only people who use "homosexual" to describe people who love or lust after people of the same sex are dick-brain evangelical, republicon low-lifes like him. And, be assured, Governor Dick-Brain that my life and the lives of millions of other queer people are surely about more than sex, regardless of what your fetid little dick-brain might imagine.
Posted by: mike | Mar 1, 2008 2:32:44 PM