The president of a conservative Christian organization is speaking out in support of the Boy Scouts of America's anti-gay policy, saying the group's code is "morally straight."
Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins sat down with CNN's John Berman on Friday to explain why the FRC is boycotting UPS.
On Tuesday, the FRC posted a message against the shipping company after CEO D. Scott Davis announced UPS would be pulling its corporate sponsorship from the Boy Scouts.
"Unfortunately, the company only reiterated its position that until the BSA puts a greater priority on the political agenda of LGBT activists than the protection of Scouts, they are not entitled to the same equality UPS claims to endorse," the FRC posted on Dec. 11. "Apparently, the company isn't interested in true diversity but in strong-arming anyone who disagrees with their extreme agenda -- including a century-old youth development program, whose only crime is instilling character into millions of American boys. As for their longstanding policy on homosexuality, the Boy Scouts are doing what every parent would want them to: putting children's safety first."
On Friday, Perkins explained the issue as a moral one.
“Well, the Boy Scouts for over 100 years, as part of their moral code, has challenged boys to be straight and to be upstanding citizens,” Perkins said. “That’s their code, morally straight, that they not engage in sexual behavior, that they keep themselves morally conditioned and mentally sharp, and that’s been their code.”
"What have you is you have a few corporations, major corporations, who are saying, look, unless you abandon a century old value set, we’re not going to give you money,” he continued. “The Boy Scouts are one that have laid down a marker and said we will continue with what’s worked for our boys. We’re going to continue to produce young men who make good citizens.”
UPS is not the only corporation that has pulled its sponsorship from the Boy Scouts.
In September, the Boy Scouts' biggest donor, Intel, pulled its funding, GLAAD reported. The Intel Foundation abides by a policy against funding “organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran or disability status.” In 2010, Intel gave the Boy Scouts $700,000.
The Merck Company Foundation, the private charitable foundation of the pharmaceutical giant, also pulled its sponsorship.
Perkins has long defended the group's anti-gay stance, even continuing to associate homosexuality with pedophilia.
[h/t Raw Story for the find.]
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