I wonder if there is enough general distaste for the policy for some other non-sanctioned scouting organization to start, taking with it all the people who don’t support the policy (and their money).
This is not a new thing - every since the Dale decision it has been official, but even before that gays and lesbians could not be open leaders.
This is just the most recent statement in a response to an attempt to make changes. Two members of the board have gone on public record as wanting a change, and the lesbian mom in Cub Scouts that got kicked out recently after someone narced on her brought it back into the news.
I don’t know. When I was a kid my parents refused to let me participate in various common activities because of their beliefs/politics/agenda/etc. It didn’t scar me for life or anything, but I did miss out.
Hope that he doesn’t turn out atheist and get kicked out entirely for being honest, then.
Camp Fire USA is now coed (though it started out as Camp Fire Girls).
Just sayin.
The Boy Scouts have a brand that is hard to beat. Campfire is out there, and Spiral Scouts tried to get going to and is successful in some areas. There is also the Baden Powell Scouts for people who think that the BSA has gotten too wimpy and is no longer strong enough outdoors oriented (I tend to agree on that - but I can manage it within my unit).
The challenge is that Eagle is still a very strong, positive brand.
The US Military gives you an extra rank when you enlist. It is a point on college applications. etc. etc. etc. This is why I am fighting from within - the bigots will NOT chase me out, but in the meantime I have to tell people that I don’t support this policy.
As to it not being a new thing, it’s the confrontation with having the Dudeling that makes a difference. Hard to describe (being new to it and all), but the question of what I would/wouldn’t do in the situation had very little teeth and very little hold on my imagination. Yes, if directly asked I could have had a conversation and could have felt the hypothetical, but like many other possible choices out there it really wasn’t all that close to home.
Don’t Cub Scouts join in elementary school? Old enough to know that ‘fag’ is wrong, but not old enough to understand the implications of the moral choice. I’m not even close to the time when that’s actually going to be upon me, but I can’t imagine that seven or eight is old enough to make such moral choices.
And it is a moral choice. I can appreciate fighting from within, and as I said upthread the generalized agnosticism and okay with the ‘reverence’ bit may make me a hypocrite. But we all draw lines somewhere. I’m sorry if it’s a bit cliche, but if the decision came down that it’s a whites-only organization, the “no, that’s not something we’re going to patronize” decision would be the same.
Checking age requirements, it looks like there are four to seven years left for them to change their policies.
ETA: The whole race analogy above was not meant in any way to impugn someone who made a different choice than I.
Screw changing from within. We need to change this bullshit.
I’m the mother of two. My daughter is in Girl Scouts and I’m a Girl Scout leader. I did not permit my son to join Boy Scouts. Scouting is a club that has, as its primary objective, instilling values and building character. Hypocrisy is not a value I want to foster in my agnostic “I’d have to pledge something I don’t believe in” son. I don’t want him to learn “hey, its a great club, except for that whole discrimination thing.” The values I want him to learn are honesty, openness, and inclusiveness - values policies the Boy Scouts have contradict (or he’d need to personally ignore to join), in addition to other great values the Boy Scouts does continue to teach.
This is a tough call. Ignorance is the issue here. Apparently, the BSA equal Gays with boys as targets. Pedophiles <> Homosexuals.
I think I told the story of NAMBLA a while back. Boy Scouts are a target, but NAMBLA members are not homosexuals, they are pedophiles.
The BSA supported a rule but targeted the incorrect group. Ignorance reigns supreme
Same as Australia (jeez the similarities between Aus and Canada still continue to amaze me), I am glad that we are not so church focused as the BSA is. BSA IMO has lost sight of what Scouting is about and seems to have been taken over by religious groups who are pushing their own agendas.
I would look at the local level and really see what the impact is especially if it is sponsored by a progressive church or other non religious group, sometimes things are not as wish them to be at the board level but that does not rule out being involved at the local level. yes some will say you are supporting a hate group [really WTF] but I don’t see it that way. Scouting is a great education and sometimes change comes from within.
And this is not a gay organization?! 
They is nothing gay about a organization that requires you to endure ritual hazing, sleeping in the woods without any gear with a bunch of men and not saying a word to anyone.
Well unless you’ve watched that porno.
My sons are both scouts and none of what you describe exists within their pack. They are not deprived and methinks you are overtstating matters.
I have to ask, at the risk of being shot down in flames: what is wrong with not allowing overt gays into the scouting ranks as leaders? Isn’t this a prevention measure against the Jerry Sandusky’s of the world? Wouldn’t you be pissed a million times over if a gay scout leader molested your child?
I am not saying that many or any would do that, but…wouldn’t you want to be certain? Doesn’t this smack of gay catholic priests and the trust that was afforded them when anyone could see if they cared to look that abuse was rampant and condoned? Isn’t this just a case of the BSA protecting themselves from such matters?
You really need to label your parody better; I almost missed it except for the bolded statement. 
I try, and I keed because I wish to be converted to teh ghey. Oh, and because I love.
You’re just in it for the toaster… oh wait, I think the “convert-er” gets that. :smack:
:eek:
I had to read that sentence twice, to be sure. I am agog to learn this. Truly? An extra rank? A point on a college admission? Seriously? For being a Boy Scout!
What if your family didn’t live where there was a troop? Tough darts, I suppose.
Wow! I had no idea.
I never cease to be amazed at the things a person can learn around here!
For Eagle Scout - not “just” Boy Scout. Though some schools now look for Eagle PLUS Senior Patrol Leader (senior boy in the Troop).