Perry: Scouting no place for lessons in sexuality

Boy Scouts carry U.S. flags up Congress Avenue towards the Texas Capitol during the annual Boy Scouts Parade and Report to State, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Boy Scouts carry U.S. flags up Congress Avenue towards the Texas Capitol during the annual Boy Scouts Parade and Report to State, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Photo: Eric Gay, STF Photo: Eric Gay, STF Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Perry: Scouting no place for lessons in sexuality 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry stood his ground Saturday against allowing openly gay members to join the Boy Scouts of America, an idea the century-old organization will consider at a national board meeting next week.

Scout policy has traditionally refused gay scouts and scout leaders, a practice affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2000. In a recent shift, Scout officials said they may consider lifting the ban. Perry, an Eagle Scout, has been vocal against that.

"Hopefully the board will follow their historic position. … I think most people see absolutely no reason to (remove the ban), and neither do I." Perry said after a rally at the Capitol. "To have popular culture impact 100 years of their standards is inappropriate,"

Hundreds of Scout delegates from the 19 councils in Texas were seated in the House on Saturday as part of the 64th annual Report to the State. Delegates from each council reported to the governor their accomplishments from the past year.

As Boy Scout leaders prepare to address the longstanding ban next week at their meeting in Irving, Perry repeated sentiments expressed in his 2008 book, "On My Honor." In it, he writes that "openly active gays" should be kept out because their sexual orientation would "distract from the mission of Scouting."

He also said: "Scouting is about teaching … life lessons; sexuality is not one of them, never has been and doesn't need to be."

Individual troops, typically chartered by churches, would still have the final say on membership and leadership, said Charles Mead, marketing and public relations director for the Capitol Area Council Boy Scouts. "The proposal would just formalize the decision that … there would no longer be a national restriction on openly gay kids or adults in the Boy Scouts."

Jason Stanford, a Democratic consultant, saw "a migraine-inducing inconsistency" in Perry's statement.

"If we can have gays and lesbians in the armed services killing terrorists, then why can't we have them in Boy Scouts making campfires?" Stanford asked. "Do you really have to be straight to tie a proper bowline?"

Perry stressed that the Boy Scouts are a private organization and should not be held to the same standards as public institutions, such as schools.

"What people do in their private lives is their business," he said. "When that intersects with individuals and making them accept a behavior that they don't see, and pay for those behaviors, that's where you have these conflicts."