Remember when Rick Perry forgot the name of the department Trump just appointed him to lead?
Former Texas Governor and known homophobe Rick Perry this week was named as Trump’s Energy Secretary, but just a few years ago he forgot the name of the very department he has been picked to lead.
President-elect Trump announced today that Perry will join his administration as Energy Secretary, as he seeks to fill out the few remaining roles in his Cabinet.
Like many other members of the Trump Cabinet, Perry holds extreme anti-LGBT stances.
But back in 2011, during a CNBC Republican presidential primary debate, Perry forgot the name of his department, when trying to list three governmental departments he would do away with.
Speaking in the debate, Perry said: “It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone — Commerce, Education and the, um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see. Oh, five — Commerce, Education and the, um… um…”
Later in the debate, he managed to recall the name of the department, saying: “By the way, that was the Department of Energy I was reaching for a while ago.”
Check out the super awkward moment below:
Perry led the charge against gay people being allowed to serve in the military, releasing a notorious ad while running for President in 2012 claiming there’s “something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas”.
While serving as Texas Governor in 2014, he compared gay people to alcoholics.
He had claimed: “Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that.
“I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.”
His comments came after the Texas Republican Convention announced its support for gay-to-straight conversion therapy.
Running for President again earlier this year, the former Governor launched an attack on the Boy Scouts of America after the organisation opted to end a ban on openly gay scoutmasters.
Perry had claimed: “Openly active gays, particularly advocates, present a problem. Because gay activism is central to their lives, it would unavoidably be a topic of conversation within a Scout troop. This would distract from the mission of scouting.”
Asked whether he would retract the comments, he insisted: “I believe that scouting would be better off if they didn’t have openly gay scoutmasters.”
