Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) defended the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay members today by pointing to the scandal surrounding former Republican congressman Mark Foley, who sent sexually explicit messages to several teenage male congressional pages.
Gohmert, who was filling in for Family Research Council president Tony Perkins on the Washington Watch radio program, accused Rep. Nancy Pelosi of hypocrisy because she condemned Foley’s actions but opposes the Boy Scouts’ ban.
Gohmert later agreed with John Stemberger, the Religious Right activist leading the campaign against gay Boy Scouts, when he said that allowing gays in the Boy Scouts would lead to the end of the program and “if scouting dies, part of the fabric of America dies.”
Gohmert: Back when there was a scandal in the House, I guess there was some left-wing group that had found out and then they sat on it for about a year and then right before the election released this story about one of our members from Florida making inappropriate advances toward eight pages, under age. And I heard Representative from San Francisco, Ms. Pelosi, making this speech on the Floor and the thing that really heartened me was because of the things she said I went to the Floor after her and said I am so gratified to know that Ms. Pelosi will now be helping us in maintaining the current position of the Boy Scouts and help us fight off the effort for Boy Scouts based on the things she has said about what’s happened with the page program. But apparently the things she had to say were only to condemn Republicans in an opportune movement that had nothing to do with being consistent when it came to the Boy Scout program…. Any other thoughts or observations, things you would want to encourage our listeners to do after hearing this broadcast?
Stemberger: Yes we have a simulcast coming up right at FRC studios, Sunday, May 5, it’s Stand with Scouts Sunday. We want to get folks all over the country to stand with scouting, especially folks in the program, it’s going to be an hour long program, we want folks to meet a half hour before and a half hour afterwards to organize because we’re going to have rallies around the country. That’s Sunday night, May 5 from 7-8, we want folks to gather at 6:30 and then the meeting will be over by 8:30. It will be a time to meet folks of other like mind. This is our opportunity. Look, scouting is one of the jewels of American culture; if scouting dies, part of the fabric of America dies.
Gohmert: It does.
Stemberger: Those of us who feel passionate about this, we need to fight to make sure we preserve scouting in America.
Gohmert: Yeah.
Later in the show, Gohmert told a listener named Jimmy, who warned the BSA against approving a proposal that would allow openly gay youth to join the Scouts, that homosexuality violates the Ten Commandments and as a result churches that host scout troops won’t go along with the new policy.
Gohmert blamed state and local governments for pressuring BSA to shift on the issue of gay membership. He said they’re accepting of Satanists but punish BSA simply for holding the same belief that “was contained in so many of the references to the lifestyle back among the Founders.”
Scouting has always had people who figured out they were attracted to people of the same-sex but what is being demanded is to be allowed to openly practice this. Jimmy makes the great point that so many of the scout troops, I don’t know what percentage it is but I know in East Texas so many of the troops are sponsored by churches who believe the Ten Commandments and when it says ‘thou shalt not commit adultery’ that means not having relations outside of marriage between a man and a woman. So this would once again be the government—well, government has helped push pressure, there are some state and local governments that have been preventing scouts from using their parks. You can have all kinds of weird beliefs, Satanic or whatever, and you can use the parks but they have made clear if you are a part of the Boy Scouts of America and believe what was contained in so many of the references to the lifestyle back among the Founders then Heaven help you they don’t want you to have anything to do with their parks.
