Yes, it’s disappointing that it’s taking the Scouts so long to do this, but this is how social change happens. I don’t think that’s a bad thing that it looks like it’s shrugging responsibility onto the local groups. To this point, local groups could always just flat discriminate and then pass the buck saying that they have no control over it. Now they have to take responsibility. It let’s groups that probably already have gay members but felt they had to hide openly support them, it makes the groups that want to discriminate defend their positions, and it forces some people on the fence to choose one or the other rather than just going with the flow. It’ll be a bit of growing pain in the long short term, but tolerance will spread through the organization and once there’s a critical mass, they can officially outright ban it. It doesn’t happen as quickly as a straight ban now, but that could also easily put a lot more of some of those people that are on the fence now on the wrong side.
These things take a long time, look at other cultural movements, if anything, so it won’t happen over night, but that they’ve had a change of heart so quickly seems rather promising that it’ll go a lot faster than we might otherwise think.
I have seen a lot of anger that the decision is “being pushed to the chartered orgs”. But really, this is the same situation with gender (for venture crews, sea scouting ships, or teams) or religion (There are many units where every scout is the same faith and scouts from other faiths are advised to go elsewhere). National couldn’t really do much else really.
It must be frustrating for some activists. “Hey, The BSA is going to let gays in now!” “But they aren’t forcing every unit to accept them! Those cowards!” Le sigh.
I should also note that this isn’t official policy yet - the national committee meeting in February could decide not to adopt this policy.
Why, yes, we are. And always have been, it’s just now our troop can break out the Mauve ‘n’ Cranberry uniforms in public.
But, seriously. The thesis of our letter to the national BSA board was that that their anti-gay policy was the total opposite of the Scout Law.
We pointed out that they were making hypocrites out of their Scoutmasters by telling them to be trustworthy and brave, and then telling them to hide what they believed and discriminate.
Wow! I’m not American, gay, or a boy scout, but that’s some grade A hate right there. I’m very glad I don’t know anyone like that (or if I do, I don’t know anyone who would broadcast their medieval views on Facebook).
If it makes a difference, it wasn’t clear to me what your point was either.
The Faecesbook page has some lovely quotes:
Excellent analogy, if one were required to be straight to support GLAAD or if ending the BSA ban on gays meant that all scoutmasters and scouts were forced to be homosexual.
You have the freedom to fight for what you believe is right. It doesn’t mean you’re always going to win.
Well, we had our cub meeting last night for my son’s Wolf den (second graders). Six boys building birdhouses in the living room. A good time was had by all.
As they were getting ready to leave, one of the mothers mentioned that her older son (age 14) was in Boy Scouts “but maybe not for long now.” I asked her why, thinking maybe he was just bored with it. The gay issues had completely fallen out of my mind. But then she started going on about how the BSA is caving to pressure and compromising on their beliefs and “as Christians we can’t support that” and that the troops sponsor (a Presbyterian church) might pull it’s sponsorship. She was going on about how a lot of people would leave and that the BSA was going to lose a lot of members.
I pointed out that each troop was still able to make it’s own policy, and that the BSA was already losing a lot of members because of it’s discriminatory policy. She kind of brushed that off though. I wish I had told her that “as a Christian myself I find your lack of love and tolerance sad and misguided and very un-Christlike.”
He just faked the Scoutmaster’s signature on that merit badge so he didn’t have to get dirty with the rest of us at the “Get Your Guy-On-Guy Mud Rasslin’ Merit Badge” Weekend in Reno.
When I first read your post, I thought you were criticising the proposed change; that your comment about scouting being a “pale shadow” of what it had once been meant that you thought that the BSA, in making this announcement, was turning its back on its previous moral standards.
Then I re-read your post and wasn’t sure what you meant.
Darth Nader, I thought your post was about hating the new change that might be coming. Definitely was not clear.
Glad that they are going to leave it up to individual troops from now on. Seems like the best solution, to make everyone happy. They are a private organization, and even as a gay man myself, I don’t see any reason they should be forced to allow gays to join or lead boy scouts. Leaving it open for each troop to decide will allow the Free Market to decide which troops will make it and which won’t. In some very religious communities, though, there may not be any gay-friendly troops, which is sad.
If there are going to be " no gays" troops, the national organization needs to make it clear that intolerance and bullying will not be acceptable at mass scouting events…Jamborees, Camporees, Klondike derby (do they still do those…camping in sub zero temps: Nucking futz!) and the like. Scout camps at all levels need to be welcoming as well.
I’m glad. I really liked Scouting growing up, and would like my kids to participate as well, but I would’ve had ethical problems signing them up with an explicitly homophobic organization.