Boy Scouts of America: Let's Piss Everyone Off This Time

[Lamia]

@billfish678

Now, could lesbians be boyscout troop leaders? Because obviously they would neither be going after the young stuff or corrupting the male youts with their lesbian ways.

There was a den mother in Ohio who was given the boot for being a lesbian.

[Dewey_Finn]

@Hello_Again

@Martin_Hyde

I’ve got nothing against scouting, I’m just saying where I grew up only a few kids, primarily the ones considered to be on the nerdy side, participated in scouting.

That totally makes sense. It’s logical to wonder what scouting is for since nearly everyone in America lives in a rural area in a moderate climate zone.

…Oh, wait, more than 80% of the American population lives in cities. Huh! It’s almost like most children don’t have ready access to unlimited woodlands and many outdoorsy family members.

Many BSA and GSA chapters own their own campgrounds. I used to live in Ossining NY and I remember a big Girl Scout camp in the Briarcliff Manor area.

[TokyoBayer]

It’s bowing to the religious groups which keep boy scouting alive. Washington Post had thisto say about it.

In all, seven in 10 Boy Scout groups are chartered to religious groups, and more than one-third are affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose followers express broad resistance to homosexuality. Almost two-thirds of Mormons (65 percent) said homosexuality should be discouraged by society in a 2011 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Just 33 percent of the public at-large said it should be discouraged, while 58 percent said it should be accepted.

Boy Scout troops affiliated with other religious traditions may be less resistant to allowing gay leaders. Wide majorities of Catholics and mainline Protestants — who account for significant shares of Boy Scout charters — said homosexuality should be accepted by society.

Interesting that at a rate of more than twice the national average, Mormons believe homosexuality should be discouraged by society. As per the article, the LDS church is the largest sponsor of troops, and certainly its views must be reflected in this latest change.

[Askthepizzaguy]

So, we should have the Boy Scouts of America, and the non-Moron Boy Scouts of America, to compete with them.

I’m sorry, did I say Moron? I meant Mormon. Innocent mistake, I swear.

[Inigo_Montoya]

@Thudlow_Boink

Maybe just “all men who are interested in working with kids are suspected pedophiles”—but the straight ones would be going after the Girl Scouts instead.

I know a dude who is a single dad with an only daughter. He was very active in her life and had the temerity to want to be an assistant in her Girl Scout troop (like 7 years ago). The hens couldn’t exactly tell him “no” but they made things really uncomfortable for him. “Forgot” to send him emails of upcoming events, etc. To my knowledge, he’s not a pedo. And he wasn’t creeping for the leaders, either. I’d call it a double standard if I didn’t know adult women never prey on girls the way men do on boys, girls, cats, sheep, computers, yard equipment…

[Skammer]

It seems to me this would be the worst decision they could have made, because they’ll now manage to piss off organizational sponsors on both sides. I don’t know why they could not have gone with ‘local option’ and let the Mormon troops continute to be bigots, and the rest of us continue to be inclusive.

Not that it matters, really. I’m a leader in my son’s Cub Scout pack and we simply don’t care to know what anyone’s orientation is. We studiously follow the BSA’s guidelines on leadership accountability which prohibits any adult from being alone with any scout (except their own child) at any time. Two adults are always required.

I have heard parents confide to me that they would pull their sons out of scouting if the BSA decided to allow gays in. I feel bad for their boys; but not sorry to lose those parents.

[Machine_Elf]

@alphaboi867

I gather their ban on atheists is still intact? :rolleyes:

As far as I know, yes. You can hold pretty much any religious beliefs you want, except a belief that there is no god out there. I attained Eagle Scout about 25 years ago and as an atheist/agnostic (somewhere in between those two categories), I still have mixed feelings about having had to lie about my religious beliefs in order to receive that rank. My parents felt that achieving Eagle Scout was such an important thing to have on my resume that they suggested it was OK to lie that time.

Gay scouts are now seeing some (if not total) relief from persecution and exclusion, but out-of-the-closet atheists are still seen as irredeemably damaged goods. Tom Cruise and his Xenuphobic ilk would be more warmly received by BSA than atheists.

[sidhechaos]

@Voyager

Not everybody lives in the sticks. My father was in the Boy Scouts in the late 1920s, and it was very important for a kid from Brooklyn whose father died at 10.

people were saner about these things then. If Johnny seemed to buddy up with jack an awful lot, who cared the other kids thought it was just a little odd and being clueless, left it alone. It’s the closet case bible thumping nutjobs pointing and being asses and messed it up;

[Sicks_Ate]

@drewtwo99

Yeah it’s part of getting your gay card. You have to swear on a copy of Lady Gaga’s newest CD (used to be Madonna’s, or before that Judy Garland’s) that you promise to only have sex with and be attracted to members of the same sex, under penalty of being unfabulous.

It makes me a little sad that this post has been out there for 3 days, and I only just now read it.

[Bricker]

@drewtwo99

Oh, and yes, it totally does just scream, “being gay is still wrong but hey they’re just kids and they’ll probably change and they don’t know any better. Adults should totally know better though!!!”

Disgusting.

Isn’t that logically consistent, though?

There is absolutely no logically consistent argument that the BSA can make…

Which goes to show that an argument can be logically consistent and still completely wrong.