After addressing hundresed of Scouts during today's Texas Scouts' 64th annual Report to State, Governor (and one-time Eagle Scout) Rick Perry once again asserted that gays should not be allowed in the Boy Scouts of America. According to the Associated Press, Perry told reporters which way he hoped next week's expected vote on the anti-gay poiicy would go: "Hopefully the board will follow their historic position of keeping the Scouts strongly supportive of the values that make Scouting this very important and impactful organization. I think most people see absolutely no reason to change the position and neither do I."
The AP followed up with more questions for Perry: "He also disagreed that allowing members of all sexual preferences would make the Scouts more tolerant: 'I think you get tolerance and diversity every day in Scouting.'"
The Human Rights Campaign has already responded: "Governor Perry and the Boy Scouts are both
completely out of touch with where America is going on this issue. There should be one national, non-discrimination policy. We can't
quite wrap our heads around why that is so difficult to do in 2013."
Earlier this week, The Washington Post published an editorial piece calling for an end to the policy: "There can be only one moral and practical conclusion to this process — an end to official discrimination against gays and lesbians. Since the Boy Scouts are a venerable American institution and still do a lot of good, we are rooting for them to get to the right place."
In tandem with tomorrow's Scout Sunday (the annual celebration that recognizes current and former Scouts), The Family Research Council has inserted themselves into the issue by calling for their members to contact the organization asking for the ban on gays to remain. The hate group has started circulating propaganda with the following text: "…allowing homosexual leaders would place the BSA on dangerous ground."
Read the entire thing here.