On Sunday Texas Gov. Rick Perry compared efforts to keep the ban on gay Boy Scouts to efforts by Sam Houston to oppose slavery and secession just before the Civil War. From our friends at Right Wing Watch:
Gov. Perry, speaking at a “Stand with the Scouts Sunday” webcast sponsored by the Family Research Council (which the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as a hate group), had this to say about Sam Houston:
“That’s the type of principled leadership, that’s the type of courage that I hope that people across this country, on this issue of scouts and keeping the Boy Scouts the organization that it is today. Because it is serving young men and women. And if we change and become more like pop culture, young men will be not as well served, America will not be as well served, and Boy Scouts will start on a decline that I don’t think will serve this country well as we go into the future.”
Gov. Perry clearly sees no downside to demonizing gay people. Now he’s comparing opposing slavery to opposing gay Boy Scouts. That’s not “principled leadership.” That’s demagoguery.
*headdesk* Look for a related blog post, coming soon.
Foot in Mouth Disease. Needs to get quarantined & muzzled. Forever.
Voting him out in 2014!!
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Should be stunned, but this just fits his ongoing pattern so no surprise.
It is OK to oppose things you do not agree with, but by making statements like this you have to wonder, what kind of twisted world do these right wingers live in?
oooooo kay….. evvvvvrybody all agree slavery’s wrong…lemme see hands if ya think slavery’s wrong…. good…. goooooood…..
Ryan Andresen, a 17-year old, had completed the requirements to earning his Eagle Scout award. His application was rejected because he is gay. If he can do the work, he should get the badge. Are the Scouts going to reject those who are having sex with their girlfriends? That’s against Biblical teaching too.
Perry should just keep his mouth shut and do some governor work to help his people-constinuents.
I am a little surprised to hear him praise San Houston considering his neo-confederate sympathies. I guess having it both ways is not a character flaw for some people.
And, blog post up! http://blog.chron.com/keepthefaith/2013/05/boy-scouts-sam-houston-and-enduring-values/
Not following how children threaten him
Sam Houston was the owner of 12 slaves when he died in 1863. He was also not shy about criticizing abolitionists, who he thought of as dangerous fanatics. Houston was not by any stretch of the imagination “against slavery.”
Gee, so being gay is succumbing to “pop culture”? I thought I was just a dorky middle-aged gay guy, but according to Ricky I’m awesomely cool and with it.
PS: I was very active in scouting throughout my youth: Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Explorer Scouts. I was a “questioning” kid back then (this was way before Stonewall, etc.). As an adult, I greatly treasure the experiences I had and skills I learned in scouting. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure one of our troop leaders (married) was gay, but he was there out of dedication to scouting, not for any sexual reasons.
One-third of teen suicides are due to sexual orientation. Thanks, Rick, you jerk, for doing all you can to increase that tragic statistic. Yes, by promoting an anti-gay stance, you are telling Texan teenagers that being gay is not OK. And you are also validating those parents of gay kids who kick their own kids out for being gay. It happens right here in Texas, Rick. It happens. And you are implicitly condoning it. You are a shameful monster.
Gov. Perry has some of his facts wrong. Sam Houston made that comment when he was a U.S. Senator from Texas before the Civil War. After Houston voted against secession, he was forced to resign. Also the founder of the Boy Scouts, Lord Baden Powell, was himself gay.
It might do for Perry to do some research on Lord Baden-Powell.
While the mental midget is at it, he might read up on Alexander the Great, Hadrian, da Vinci and Michelangelo.
It’s damned embarrassing to have a moron for a governor… but what is really scary is that the idiot has been elected three time by the citizens of Texas.
What does that say about the Texas electorate.
Mr. Perry obviously has it backwards. Again. The suppression of the rights of Gays is a better equivalent to slavery. The Boy Scouts are acting more like the slave owners.
jbs