# The Boy Scouts Still Thinking of the Children **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 17, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549 "2012-07-17T18:25:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/1 "2012-07-17T18:25:48Z")
Well, the Boy Scouts after a thorough review of its policies have decided to [keep their anti-gay policies](http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/17/12790471-boy-scouts-were-keeping-policy-banning-gays?lite). Whew! Clearly if the Mormon Scouts…I mean Boy Scouts, allowed the gays to be part of their organization then who knows what evils might befall our children. And when I say who knows, I mean “who knows”, because the decision making was done in secret and no real explanation was really given. But I am assuming it is to protect them from, you know becoming gay or worse being a victim of gay sexual predators that run rampant in the minds of wingnuts. Or maybe they were just concerned about adding interior design and Musical Theater Appreciation merit badges. I keed! I keed! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/2 "2012-07-17T18:44:13Z")
Our scout troop has an unofficial “Diversity” Merit Badge. Yes, it’s got a rainbow on it. The Boy Scouts have always had plenty of “diversity” at the local level. No problem ignoring the handful of board members who are fascists. For decades, now. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/3 "2012-07-17T18:49:51Z")
Link not work? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/4 "2012-07-17T18:50:49Z")
I’m an Eagle Scout and a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow. Fuck the Boy Scouts. ETA: [http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/\_news/2012/07/17/12790471-boy-scouts-were-keeping-policy-banning-gays](http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/17/12790471-boy-scouts-were-keeping-policy-banning-gays) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/5 "2012-07-17T18:52:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Link not work? I blame the uncloseted-but-awesome Scoutmaster we had back in the 70s… And the extra _%22http//_ in the address. Took it out, works fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/6 "2012-07-17T18:53:04Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Well, the Boy Scouts after a thorough review of its policies have decided to [keep their anti-gay policies](http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/17/12790471-boy-scouts-were-keeping-policy-banning-gays?lite%22%5B/url). > > Whew! Clearly if the Mormon Scouts…I mean Boy Scouts, allowed the gays to be part of their organization then who knows what evils might befall our children. And when I say who knows, I mean “who knows”, because the decision making was done in secret and no real explanation was really given. But I am assuming it is to protect them from, you know becoming gay or worse being a victim of gay sexual predators that run rampant in the minds of wingnuts. > > Or maybe they were just concerned about adding interior design and Musical Theater Appreciation merit badges. I keed! I keed! I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. The BSA’s policy of excluding gays and atheists violates The Scout Law. A Scout is Helpful - Excluding kids who need friends and support is not Helpful. A Scout is Friendly - Exclusion is never friendly. A Scout is Courteous - Exclusion is not courteous. A Scout is Kind - Withholding friendship and support to those who need it is not kind. A Scout is Brave - Cravenly keeping a policy of exclusion in exchange for the LDS money is not brave. If they were to follow the Girl Scout’s example and turn it down, that would be brave. A Scout is Reverent - Reverence goes both way. An atheist can be reverent to a theist’s beliefs, just as a theist can be reverent towards an atheist lack thereof. It just requires bravery. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/7 "2012-07-17T19:10:17Z")
My kid is going to miss out on a right of passage because of the gay agenda You bastards. You unholy, cursed, buggeryboos and your cursed existence. Because you dare _exist_, no, wait, not just exist, but because you want to participate in everyday life, my kid can’t join the Boy Scouts. No Cub Scout Jamboree, no Pinewood Derby Race for him, no Blue and Gold banquet, no Weblows Order of the Arrow, no merit badges, no Scout Camp, no learning and experiencing the great range of joys and pains that is scouting. I’m surprisingly ripped up inside. I honestly had such grand expectations for him, though I didnt’ really recognize them until I read the news story earlier today. Not aspirations that he’d necessarily go on to Eagle or whatever, just that he’d get to participate and taste some of the greatness of being a boy. I know I can take him camping on my own, teach him all sorts of things … but no Scouting? There’s an emptiness there. Yes, he’ll be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent. But it won’t mean the same thing. Heck, I could have gotten his agnostic (or, what I assume to be agnostic) ass through. I kinda get the whole spiritual side of things. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite and this is several years too late. But whatever. I’m so, so sorry son. You won’t be joining the Scouts. Because those people just want to exist. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/8 "2012-07-17T19:15:09Z")
> [@digs](#): > > The Boy Scouts have always had plenty of “diversity” at the local level. No problem ignoring the handful of board members who are fascists. For decades, now. In my small experience of the world, scouting enthusiasm was positively correlated with gayness, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/9 "2012-07-17T19:15:22Z")
The Girl Scouts said no? No shit! Well, I reckon I’m about to buy me some damn cookies! Not gonna eat 'em, taste like s’mores made with cardboard and library paste, but I’m damn sure buying some. You know, hadn’t given much thought to the Mormons, outside of a little good-natured derision, but lately they’re starting to get on my nerves… ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/10 "2012-07-17T19:22:31Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > My kid is going to miss out on a right of passage because of the gay agenda > > You bastards. You unholy, cursed, buggeryboos and your cursed existence. Because you dare _exist_, no, wait, not just exist, but because you want to participate in everyday life, my kid can’t join the Boy Scouts. No Cub Scout Jamboree, no Pinewood Derby Race for him, no Blue and Gold banquet, no Weblows Order of the Arrow, no merit badges, no Scout Camp, no learning and experiencing the great range of joys and pains that is scouting. > I’m surprisingly ripped up inside. I honestly had such grand expectations for him, though I didnt’ really recognize them until I read the news story earlier today. Not aspirations that he’d necessarily go on to Eagle or whatever, just that he’d get to participate and taste some of the greatness of being a boy. I know I can take him camping on my own, teach him all sorts of things … but no Scouting? There’s an emptiness there. Yes, he’ll be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent. But it won’t mean the same thing. > > Heck, I could have gotten his agnostic (or, what I assume to be agnostic) ass through. I kinda get the whole spiritual side of things. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite and this is several years too late. But whatever. > > I’m so, so sorry son. You won’t be joining the Scouts. Because those people just want to exist. This is surprisingly hurtful to me as well. My brothers are both Eagle Scouts. My dad was our committee chairman. It’s a family thing. We all had years of great times in the Scouts. I can’t tell you how many truly useful outdoor skills I’ve learned because of Boy Scouts. And now my son will never have those experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/11 "2012-07-17T19:39:38Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > This is surprisingly hurtful to me as well. My brothers are both Eagle Scouts. My dad was our committee chairman. It’s a family thing. We all had years of great times in the Scouts. I can’t tell you how many truly useful outdoor skills I’ve learned because of Boy Scouts. And now my son will never have those experiences. My father lost his father at an early age, and the Scouts were very important to him back in the '30s. He kept up with it - he was the first Scoutmaster of a troop at the UN (no scout is reverent there!) he founded a troop, was active at district level, and got a Silver Beaver. I made it to Life and was a senior patrol leader and JASM. Now I’m glad that I only have daughters. I suspect troops in the Bay Area don’t have restrictions internally, but they could still get into trouble if found out. I blame the move from New Jersey to New Mexico myself. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/12 "2012-07-17T19:39:38Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The Girl Scouts said no? No shit! Well, I reckon I’m about to buy me some damn cookies! Not gonna eat 'em, taste like s’mores made with cardboard and library paste, but I’m damn sure buying some. You can send them to me.🙂 Oh, the mint cardboard ones please.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/13 "2012-07-17T19:46:21Z")
It’s possible that your communities will have some sort of nonBSA organization you could look into. Worst comes to worst, if you could get together with other parents who aren’t interested in a discriminatory organization either, you could do scouty things as an informal den of your own. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/14 "2012-07-17T19:48:42Z")
This is resonating across the Scout boards I read. Many of us were hoping that the committee would come out (hah!) in favor of Local Control - where your sponsoring organization could make their own decision. With Episcopalians and Presbyterians both sponsoring Troops AND accepting gays and lesbians - the BSA is also not following Reverent. I will be staying in Scouting, and being the loud voice at the local level fighting for a change. Please note that many of us wearing the shorts and Oscar De La Renta shirts do NOT agree with this. Sometimes we can be ID’d by our Scouting For All knot (illegal, but worn at times regardless). In my Troop, the boys have learned that I don’t tolerate any “that’s gay” language either. The smart ones have read between the lines and have figured out that I don’t agree with the BSA policy either. The local council knows my thoughts, emphasized when I stopped my annual donations to the Friends of Scouting. Bastards in Irving Texas and their bullshit “diverse” committee. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/15 "2012-07-17T20:07:18Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Fuck the Boy Scouts. That’s precisely what they don’t want to happen 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/16 "2012-07-17T20:10:05Z")
I’d be inclined to leave it to the kid, its about the right size of moral quandry for a developing mind. Stay in, and work for change? Refuse to participate? Worth a merit badge, in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/17 "2012-07-17T20:18:39Z")
Just one more curse of living in a theocracy. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/18 "2012-07-17T20:30:39Z")
Well, I’m pleased to note that Scouts Canada has no such policy or belief, so if, at the appropriate age, Junior is keen to join I can go ahead and sign him up. This story makes me bummed for little boys in the US though. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/19 "2012-07-17T20:38:10Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > My kid is going to miss out on a right of passage because of the gay agenda > > You bastards. You unholy, cursed, buggeryboos and your cursed existence. Because you dare _exist_, no, wait, not just exist, but because you want to participate in everyday life, my kid can’t join the Boy Scouts. No Cub Scout Jamboree, no Pinewood Derby Race for him, no Blue and Gold banquet, no Weblows Order of the Arrow, no merit badges, no Scout Camp, no learning and experiencing the great range of joys and pains that is scouting. > I’m surprisingly ripped up inside. I honestly had such grand expectations for him, though I didnt’ really recognize them until I read the news story earlier today. Not aspirations that he’d necessarily go on to Eagle or whatever, just that he’d get to participate and taste some of the greatness of being a boy… If you acknowledge a bunch of benefits, why don’t you let him join? Just tell him that you don’t agree with all aspects of their mission statement or whatever. Consider it a teachable moment. I’m sure there are atheist parents who let their kids join and tell them to gloss over the “reverent” part. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549/20 "2012-07-17T20:42:41Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > If you acknowledge a bunch of benefits, why don’t you let him join? Just tell him that you don’t agree with all aspects of their mission statement or whatever. Consider it a teachable moment. I’m sure there are atheist parents who let their kids join and tell them to gloss over the “reverent” part. Because now they’re a hate group, as far as I’m concerned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boy-scouts-still-thinking-of-the-children/628549.md?page=2)