Action Star Chuck Norris Backs Boy Scout's Anti-Gay Policy

You may remember Chuck Norris from the film "Way of the Dragon" or the television series "Walker, Texas Ranger." If not, then you'll probably remember him now, for his endorsement of a policy that bars gays from joining the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), the Superficial points out.

Earlier this week the celebrity wrote an article on AmmoLand.com, a website devoted to shooting sports news, and said that the Obama administration is giving kickbacks to the BSA's national board member James Turley so he can change the anti-gay policy. Norris, 72, wrote that Turley said he is working "from within to seek a change" to overturn the anti-gay rule.

"But is Turley working on his own initiative, or has the White House prodded him 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 wrote.

As global chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young, one of the worlds largest accounting firms, based in London, Turley has plenty of corporate clout behind his words. The television star suggested that Turley has a close relationship with the president as the BSA official and his wife recently attended state dinners hosted by the president. Turley was nominated to Obama's Export Council (although such an appointment is hardly unusual for such a corporate titan).

Norris, who will star in the upcoming movie "The Expendables 2," which stars fellow meatheads Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme, also wrote that the BSA is "as integral a part of American life and culture as hot dogs, baseball and Grandma's apple pie" and then attacked Obama for his stance on immigration.

"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," Norris wrote.

In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the BSA was a private organization and that it could limit its membership, which allows them to prohibit gays from joining.

On Wednesday, Norris took to his Facebook to clear up his statements and wrote: "I was not criticizing the gay community. What I tried to convey in my article is that no private organization operating within the bounds of the law should be forced to change its principles and traditions based on outside pressure.... (The BSA) should be able to continue to live by traditions that have worked and served the organization well for a century."

The celebrity's comments upset members of GLAAD and the LGBT organization released a statement and condemned the actor.

"Chuck Norris should talk to Mitt Romney, who Norris endorsed for President and who has said on the record that all Americans should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts of America regardless of sexual orientation.... Celebrities who support gay Americans are enjoying popular careers while Chuck Norris appears to be a fame-hungry has-been with poor research skills."

Earlier this month, Zach Wahls, an engineering student at the University of Iowa who became a YouTube sensation for defending gay rights, handed over a petition with 275,000 signatures to BSA officials that demanded the organization change its anti-gay policy.

Wahls, a 20-year-old Eagle Scout (the BSA's highest rank), then privately met with two Scout board members to discuss the policy.

The Girl Scouts of America, in sharp contrast to their male counterparts, have successfully implemented a non-discriminatory LGBT stance. While right-wing groups disparage the GSA as degenerate and a flunky of Planned Parenthood (among other evils), the organization somehow mangiest to continue to take in girls and turn out responsible young adults.