astro
December 29, 2013, 11:06pm
1
Per the linked story below openly gay boys can now become Boy Scouts. I am curious to see if there will be a surge in enrollment by gay boys or if existing scouts will not come out as gay. Looks like a good step forward by the BSA that’s on the right side of history.
Also there was a lot of noise when this was in process many months ago from outraged adults that their troops would leave the BSA if this policy was enacted. I wonder if there are any indications that has happened on any scale.
. Boy Scouts Start Accepting Gay Youth On New Year’s Day
The Boy Scouts of America will accept openly gay youths starting on New Year’s Day, a historic change that has prompted the BSA to ponder a host of potential complications — ranging from policies on tentmates and showers to whether Scouts can march in gay pride parades.
Yet despite their be-prepared approach, BSA leaders are rooting for the change to be a non-event, comparable to another New Year’s Day in 2000 when widespread fears of digital-clock chaos to start the new millennium proved unfounded.
“My hope is there will be the same effect this Jan. 1 as the Y2K scare,” said Brad Haddock, a BSA national executive board member who chairs the policy implementation committee. “It’s business as usual, nothing happens and we move forward.”
However, some Texas parents and leaders have decided to switch to Trail Life USA, an alternative which declares itself “a Christian adventure, character, and leadership program for young men.” Among them is Ron Orr, a business consultant from the Fort Worth area who is signing up local units for the group.
So far, he said he has 25 groups “pre-chartered” for a Jan. 1 launch date in the territory covered by the BSA’s Circle Ten and Longhorn councils. That’s modest compared to the 39,000 Scouts served by the Circle Ten council alone.
Orr is part of a family with four generations of Eagle Scouts. His older son recently earned his Eagle rank and his younger son was on the verge of doing likewise. But Orr said he could not stand by after the policy change.
“As Christians, from a scriptural basis, we love all folks, but the scripture is very clear that being homosexual is a sin,” Orr said. “We’ve got to be able to hold a strong line and set a consistent example for our young men.”
Orr said his decision to cut ties with the BSA rested in part on the Scout Oath, which includes the admonition to remain “morally straight.”
Scott Scarborough of Lubbock, Texas, is helping Orr recruit Trail Life members in the Texas Panhandle, a mostly rural, conservative region. Scarborough said he offered to let his 14-year-old son stay in Boy Scouts and achieve his Eagle rank, but the boy elected to join him in Trail Life.
Orr and Scarborough said they didn’t consider themselves rivals to the Boy Scouts, though they’ve chosen a different path
Kenm
December 29, 2013, 11:20pm
2
Same-subject thread started yesterday here
Actually, that thread was started in January 2013, and recently got a bump.