Bill O'Reilly Is Worried About “Homosexual Overtones” In The Girl Scouts

Bill O'Reilly criticized the Girl Scouts for hiring a spokesman who, according to O'Reilly, is a member of a “controversial punk band with homosexual overtones.”

During the February 19 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly interviewed Girl Scouts spokeswoman Kelly Parisi to discuss whether the organization had begun “leaning left.” O'Reilly questioned Parisi about the employment of Josh Ackley, a spokesman for the organization that O'Reilly claimed was a member of “a controversial punk band with homosexual overtones”:

O'REILLY: Let's get on to a spokesperson who I don't think works for you now but certainly did, was a member of a controversial punk band with homosexual overtones. ...[added space] When I saw that you guys hired, paid a guy in a punk band with homosexual overtones, I'm going 'is that a good choice for the Girl Scouts?'

[...]

O'REILLY: You then have to understand the flak when conservative Americans see a spokesperson for the Girl Scouts who is a member or was a member of a punk rock band with homosexual overtones. They're going 'what the deuce is going on?' Surely you understand that.

The spokesperson in question is Josh Ackley. Last December, Breitbart.com's go-to anti-gay extremist Austin Ruse published an article attacking Ackley for his involvement in a “homo-punk” rock band called The Dead Betties. The article was part of a smear campaign Ruse has led against Ackley since late 2011, in conservative publications like The Washington Times and National Review Online

On February 18, O'Reilly picked up Ruse's efforts, mentioning Ackley by name while discussing whether the Girl Scouts had been taken over by “secular progressives.”

It's not the first time O'Reilly has worried about homosexuality in a national scouting organization. In 2004, he said that it would be “impossible for... any children's organization to admit avowed homosexuals because of the potential liability."