Soledad O'Brien clashed with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council over his opposition to opening the Boy Scouts up to gay members on Wednesday.
The organization is currently considering lifting its ban on gay scouts and leaders. Some conservatives, like Perkins and Rick Perry, have voiced their opposition to the potential change. On Wednesday, O'Brien grilled Perkins over his views on "Starting Point."
When asked why he opposed removing the ban, Perkins said, "Why would I let a man who is attracted to other males go camping with my boys?"
"But a pedophile, as you know... is someone who has sex with children," O'Brien interjected, as Perkins continued to speak. Later, she asked, "Are you saying that someone who's gay is a pedophile, sir?"
"No, I never said that," Perkins responded. "They are trying to create an environment that is protective of children. This doesn’t make it more protective. There is a disproportionate number of male on boy — when we get into pedophilia... male on boy is a higher incident rate of that. We never said all homosexuals are pedophiles. That’s not what we've said."
Perkins asked why people who support lifting the ban would want to interfere with the Boy Scouts, instead of starting their own organization.
"Because they think it's discriminatory, would be the answer I think they would give to that," O'Brien answered, before asking him if he ever worried about being "on the wrong side of history" in this debate.
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