Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday he was opposed to the state issuing a license plate featuring a Confederate battle flag, publicly declaring his position on the proposal for the first time.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans applied for the Texas plate but opponents have called it highly offensive to African-Americans. The group is a national organization open to the male descendants of any man who served honorably in the Confederate forces during the Civil War.

Mr. Perry, a Republican, previously declined to reveal his personal views on the matter, but on the presidential campaign trail Wednesday in Florida he said he was against his state issuing the license plate. “We don’t need to be scraping old wounds,” Mr. Perry told Bay News 9 in Tampa, Fla.