Photo: www.chucknorris.com/
By: D’Anne Witkowski*/Special for TRT–
Have you heard the news? President Obama hates the Boy Scouts of America and wants to make all of the boys involved into a bunch of pansy liberal gay homos.
And oh say can you see who made such a claim? Why, America’s Ultimate Man Scout Chuck Norris.
Guns and Anti-Gays?
In a June 26 piece on AmmoLand.com, a sports shooting website (because anti-gay screeds and guns go hand in hand?), Norris lays out an intricate conspiracy between Obama and James Turley, a member of the Boy Scouts of America’s board.
No Homos Allowed
Turley, you may remember, recently expressed that he was not A-Okay with BSA’s practice of nailing a No Homos Allowed sign above their tree fort. “I support the meaningful work of the Boy Scouts in preparing young people for adventure, leadership, learning and service, however the membership policy is not one I would personally endorse,” Turley said. “As I have done in leading Ernst & Young to being a most inclusive organization, I intend to continue to work from within the BSA Board to actively encourage dialogue and sustainable progress.”
Is Gay-saying possible?
Obviously Obama gay-forced Turley to gay-say such a thing. At least that’s what Norris seems to think, claiming that the “White House prodded [Turley] with perks and favors.”
“Is it a coincidence that Turley came out swinging against the BSA’s century-old policy to ban gays from leadership and that he has such close affiliations with the pro-gay Obama administration?” Norris asks.
In his article, Norris lays out a slew of things that Obama and Turley either agree on and/or areas they have worked together in an attempt to show that Turley is just Obama’s gay-loving puppet. It’s all a bit silly, really, as there is clearly no conspiracy to be had.
No love for Obama
Is it possible that Obama and Turley just happen to not be homophobic jerks like Norris? I’m going to go with yes.
Norris has no love for Obama, clearly, and all but says that Obama loves gays more than he loves the Boy Scouts (as if the two things were mutually exclusive).
Norris complains that “as the honorary BSA president and a ‘constitutional lawyer,’ Obama hasn’t had one minute in his schedule over the past years to defend or say anything about the series of lawsuits that have been levied against the BSA because of its First Amendment rights to stand against atheists, agnostics and homosexuals.”
Apparently Norris expects that just because Obama was made an honorary head of the Boy Scouts, just like the presidents who came before him, that Obama has some kind of obligation to support BSA’s exclusionary policies. Well, he doesn’t.
Anti-immigration Norris
Norris also throws a little bit of anti-immigration sentiment in for good measure: “It is a coincidence that Obama will stand up repeatedly for the children of illegal immigrants (and grant them amnesty and taxpayer money) but that he will not once stand up for children in the BSA and the organization’s rights and freedoms to hold their own core values and beliefs?”
In other words, Obama doesn’t care about real American kids who just want to hate gays in the name of Jesus or he’d fight for their right to do just that.
Norris writes, “For years, I’ve signed and sent out hundreds of Eagle Scout recognition letters. And I personally have known a host of Boy Scouts, Eagle Scouts and BSA leaders. These individuals epitomize the best of America.”
I have no doubt that there are, indeed, individual Boy Scouts, Eagle Scouts, and BSA leaders who represent some of the best America has to offer. But the organization as a whole? No way. A group that blatantly discriminates against gays and lesbians represents the worst of America. And it’s about time we had a president who understood that.
*D’Anne Witkowski has been gay for pay since 2003. She’s a freelance writer and poet (believe it!). When she’s not taking on the creeps of the world she reviews rock ‘n’ roll shows in Detroit with her twin sister.
