Texas Gov. Rick Perry Pleads With Boy Scouts to Keep Gay Ban

The former Eagle Scout wants to maintain the antigay status quo.

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

February 03 2013 1:49 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Texas governor and failed GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry pleaded with the Boy Scouts organization on Saturday to maintain their ban on openly gay scouts and troop leaders.

Perry spoke Saturday to Texas scouts at a gathering at the state House of Representatives in Austin. Perry, an Eagle Scout himself who wrote a book about scouting in 2008, said that the Boy Scouts should not bend to "popular culture."

The organization is weighing whether to allow individual chapters to admit out participants. But Perry believes keeping gays away is part of what makes the Boy Scouts so special.

"Hopefully the [Boy Scouts'] board will follow their historic position of keeping the Scouts strongly supportive of the values that make scouting this very important and impactful organization."