Rick Perry, Eagle Scout, has written a book about the boy scouts, defending their homophobic and anti humanist activism.
An Eagle Scout and the father of an Eagle Scout, Perry stresses the importance of Scout values such as being "courteous and kind." (He is fond of phrases like "gosh" and "jiminy cricket.") He has received the Silver Antelope Award for outstanding service to the Scouts.
Asked in a recent interview if being gay was a choice (I presume the interview pegged Perry for gay, otherwise why ask him this question), he replied:
I'm not a social scientist. I can't answer the question of, "Is it the environment that one finds oneself in or is it the way you're wired up when you are born?" I don't know. I do know this: that people have a choice to engage in that activity.
Asked about the ACLU, Perry indicates:
The secularists want to sanitize the Pledge of Allegiance, our currency, our government buildings and Scout oath from any mention of God.
It seems to be that the Gov basically understand the situation. And he's gotta go.
[Source]
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Kind of sounds like something you could say about knowing the presence of God and choosing whether to shove it down other people's throats or not.
Q: Do you believe in God?
A: I don't know if it is in the environment that one finds oneself in, or if there really is an ineffable soul. I just don't know. I do know this: that people have a choice to engage in evangelism and belief in superstition.
If Perry can't deal with that sort of answer, then he's a hypocrite. (Of course, many people would probably agree that he's a hypocrite, and can therefore do the requisite mental gymnastics.)
Posted by: Umlud | February 26, 2008 4:25 PM
My Gaydar indicates that "Rick Perry" longs to be a Grirl Scout and known as Rickie Perry.
Not that that's wrong...
HTH :)
Posted by: J-Dog | February 26, 2008 4:36 PM
Sort of like whether you take chewing tobacco.
http://www.skoalbrotherhood.com/default.aspx
Posted by: crf | February 26, 2008 8:01 PM
One is left to wonder how wide a stance that is.
Posted by: Doug Alder | February 27, 2008 12:54 AM
You also have a choice about whether to eat or not.
Posted by: Richard Eis | February 27, 2008 4:12 AM
Strange that "being gay", is now, according to Mr Perry, "an activity".
I suppose he is refering to the activity of "homosexual sex".
So, according to him, he doesn't know if being gay is a choice or not, but engaging in homosexual sex is in any case a choice. So, you may be gay, but you shouldn't engage in gay sexual activities, because that is a choice, which you can control.
It reminds me a bit of the idea, that, you may be human, but it's your choice to have sex for other purposes as purely reproductive. And that is bad.
And that of course, has nothing to do with religion...
Posted by: negentropyeater | February 27, 2008 10:33 AM