Texas Governor and failed presidential candidate Rick Perry is angry with Madonna. Why? Because Madonna had the audacity to join millions of people calling on the Boy Scouts of America to adopt a national policy of non-discrimination and drop its ban on gay scouts and gay leaders.
Rick Perry took to Glenn Beck's radio show to complain about Madonna's outfit and comments regarding the Boy Scouts, calling it a "gratuitous shot."
“It’s fascinating that someone would make that kind of gratuitous shot at an organization that has probably done as much to promote young men to the type of values that the vast majority of the people in this country aspire to,” Perry said.
"The last time Perry waded into gay issues, it resulted in one of the most disliked YouTube videos of all time and contributed to the downfall of his embarrassing presidential campaign," said GLAAD's Vice President of Communications Rich Ferraro. "Now here he goes again. Perry needs to realize that a growing number of conservatives and overall public opinion have left his anti-gay animus in the dust."
Madonna attended the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York last weekend to present the Vito Russo award to Anderson Cooper. She appeared on stage wearing a Boy Scouts outfit as part of GLAAD's year-long campaign to end the Boy Scouts of America's ban on gay scouts and leaders and said the BSA should "change their stupid rules."
Apparently, Perry does not think that there is anything wrong with kicking out Jennifer Tyrrell from being a den leader of her son's pack, simply because she's gay. He sees no problem with denying teenager Ryan Andresen the rank of Eagle Scout for being gay. Perry doesn't give credit to Eagle Scout Zach Wahls or his organization of Eagle Scouts who support a change, Scouts for Equality. He doesn't recognize the true leadership of Eagle Scout Will Oliver, who is asking the National Geographic Channel to distance itself from the discrimination within the Boy Scouts as they run Are You Tougher than a Boy Scout. Perry is choosing to ignore the churches, synagogues, businesses, and millions of Americans who have said that the discriminatory policy should be dropped and the Boy Scouts to be open to all scouts.
Rick Perry is also ignoring the growing support for LGBT issues among his Republican colleagues. Several leading Republicans signed an amicus brief supporting the repeal of the discriminatory 'Defense of Marriage Act." And most recently, Ohio Senator Rob Portman shared his newfound support for marriage equality.
Perry protested the possibility that the Boy Scouts may drop the organization-wide ban, when the possibility was first floated in February. At that time, the Boy Scouts tabled the decision until their next board meeting in May. This latest attack on Madonna has demonstrated that Perry is hungry for relevance and attention since his failed presidential bid, which included a widely panned video that attacked the LGBT community.
GLAAD first started calls for the Boy Scouts of America to end its ban on gay scouts and scout leaders in April 2012 after Jennifer Tyrrell, a mom and den leader from Ohio was removed from her 7-year-old’s Cub Scout Pack for being gay. Tyrrell’s Change.org petition has attracted more than 341,000 signatures in support of ending the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay Scouts and leaders.
GLAAD and Scouts for Equality have also called attention to other Americans who are continuing to be harmed by the anti-gay policy, including 18 year-old gay Scout Ryan Andresen, who was denied his Eagle award in October 2012 because he’s gay. Ryan’s mom later launched a Change.org petition calling on the BSA to give Ryan the award he has earned. That petition now boasts over 473,000 signatures.