My brother asked me what I thought about the recent rumblings from the BSA. Even with my involvement in Scouting for now, I really hadn’t thought much about it. When I did, it seemed obvious that it’s the right thing to do and there wasn’t much more to it.
Then I figured, eh, why not write something up and put it here for all to see. To quickly summarize, I think the reasons to exclude gays are thin, and the reason for inclusion have mostly upside.
To start, one of the core values for Cub Scouts is respect, which has as one of its meanings “deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment.” For that matter, the BSA’s own site reads “showing regard for the worth of something or someone.” It’s hard to square this core value with the current policy.
Shifting gears a bit, the fear that’s brought up by defenders of the status quo is the possibility of pedophilia and child molestation. But studies and time have revealed that both are a separate and unrelated thing from homosexuality. Thus, this reason has faded to the point of oblivion- if the fear still exists, it exists out of ignorance.
If looking for arguments for the change, I’d say look no further than a story like this. A Boy Scout, denied the rank of Eagle he had earned for the sole reason that he was gay, received his Eagle pin from another Eagle Scout who came out as gay when he heard of the boy’s plight. Now, some might miss the forest for the trees and focus on the “dishonesty” of the older Scout never having revealed he was gay and earning something he “didn’t deserve.”
And that would be a great shame. The fact is these two men had done everything required of them by Scouting to attain that rank. That means they had proven themselves “morally straight.” Are we really supposed to believe that by announcing a truth about themselves, they suddenly were not? By what reasoning could that possibly be true?
I’d say there are also pragmatic reasons. There are areas of the country where the current policy likely works to depress membership. I had one parent explain to me that she almost kept her son out of Cub Scouts because of disagreement with the policy. Ultimately, she stuck with it because of her son’s friendships within the Pack and that it didn’t make sense to punish him for something he knew nothing about. If she was thinking like that, how many other parents use similar lines of thought and keep prevent their sons from getting involved? The Constitution certainly protects the rights of the BSA to run the organization as they see fit, but they can’t protect it from the consequences of those decisions.
Another pragmatic aspect to consider is one of leadership. In this area, Scouting hangs on by the skin of its teeth. Part of the reason is it takes a lot of effort and time to organize all the different activities and meetings involved. The idea of casting good people away simply because of sexual orientation seems like a bad way to address that problem. While I know Scouting is robust in other areas of the country, I’m sure there are other locations where it’s similar to here. The bottom line here is that help is needed and tossing it aside because of sexuality is self-defeating.
The bottom line is Scouting is a worthwhile endeavor for young boys. It promotes all of the sorts of qualities that we might want in our kids: resourcefulness, independence, grace under fire and a willingness to lead and be responsible. There is no reason those qualities can’t apply to gay Scouts and there is no reason gay men can’t help to foster those qualities in Scouts they lead.
4 replies on “Scouts Should Include Gays”
First let me say, that I completely agree with you, and that I think this thought process needs to extend way beyond the BSA.
I have a hard time understanding the basic fallback that the BSA uses on its stance that the BSA has a requirement of “morally straight” individuals. I have not seen the full context, but I just do not feel that the definition of the word “straight” in the original context had anything to do with sexuality. I think this is an argument of close minded convenience. I have also noticed that a lot of these arguments end up being based in religion. As odd as it may sound that such a peaceful system of beliefs like religion could possibly cause any type of argument, it does often play a role. But, I have not found any significant religious history with the BSA. It actually seems to have been an organization founded outside of religious influence. I am sure some of the “morals” and “ethics” that are referenced have religious parallels, but they are not based in any defined religious program.
That all being said, I do find it interesting that one of the original sponsors of the BSA was the Mormon Church. At the time they could have been considered the title sponsor, but I do not know what degree they continue to sponsor the organization. I would only be able to speculate on that now, but if they had any original influence on the path of the organization, I doubt that homosexuality would have been acceptable to them.
All this being said, I think I have to chalk it up to antiquity. I am guessing that the governing body of the BSA is not a group of my peers. I imagine a group of WASP men telling stories about WWII and how the Korean War is the forgotten war. I would probably guess that even the Vietnam War is too young for many of them. They are out of touch with the fact that morality and inherent goodness is independent of sexuality. Heck, just Google “church” and “sex crime” and see what pops up if you think that you can read a book by its cover these days.
Of course my last paragraph was full of blind speculation and mild sensationalism…but isn’t that appropriate in a discussion that is using the exact same tactics to prevent people that want to be involved and do good from doing just that same thing?
I have always thought that the only way to change things at the highest level is to burn them down from the ground and rebuild. It is actually why I typically vote against anyone that has been in office for any significant period of time. If they have been in there for more than a term and accomplished nothing, they will keep right on doing that as part of the problem and not the solution. That may be close minded, but no more close minded than voting for someone because their name shows up red or blue…I say fight fire with fire. But if the BSA has a true and pure influence on our youth, then maybe situations like these will start things right from the ground up. Hopefully parents will take the time to explain the issues to their kids and let them decide what is right and wrong.
The troubling part of your story was the mother who left her son in BSA because he essentially would not know any better and why punish him for her beliefs. Kids are significantly more intelligent on the ideas of right and wrong than their parents. Parents are tainted and influenced by the general crap that fills all our heads over the years. Kids just look at the facts, so give them the facts and let them decide. If they have a friend and they want to play with them, who cares whether that friend is black/white, rich/poor, jewish/catholic, or gay/straight…let them play and let them be kids, so they can grow up better than all of us.
Wasn’t that the point of the BSA to begin with…
Actually, as far as the BSA as an organization, they are pretty strongly connected to religion. “A Scout is reverent” the saying goes. They do not discriminate on it’s basis with the exception that agnostic and atheists are blackballed. Interestingly, I don’t have much of a problem with this seeming inconsistency. I suppose if the powers-that-be consider faith an important aspect of Scouting, then that’s there prerogative and non-believers need not apply. But it’s hard to apply the religion test to homosexuality.
It’s funny you mentioned about the problems with sex scandals and the Church, since I had considered going there in the post. I just didn’t have a way to work it in- but the ironic element I think is correct. Arguably, the BSA is better off including gays than priests at this point.
I’m not sure what you find troubling about the parent anecdote I included. Perhaps I didn’t relate the story properly, but I thought she ultimately did the right thing letting him stay in Scouts. Her objection was to the current policy of excluding gays.
I did misunderstand the story of the mother…I thought she did not want gays in the BSA, but decided to keep her son in, despite her own feelings. If she reads my post and puts it together, I apologize for the way that I read it…but in my defense, my interpretation was formed by the writer and his ambiguity in telling the tale.
Geez.
Okay…I was a little surprised I did not see/find/read more of religious link to the BSA, but I am not surprised to hear that it is there, it is strong, and I would argue is the silent, or not so silent, partner in the anti-gay policy. It is tough to hear at this stage of our existence, that religion or lack of religion, should have any say in the policies of scouting. To me, scouting should be an all-inclusive organization and by that I mean, ALL-inclusive. I think the entire organization could make a significant impression on the development of young minds if it put everyone together and got them all on the same page.
Considering the “melting pot” concept that America was founded on, and the fact that the original colonies were trying to create an environment of religious freedom, that I would argue includes the freedom from religion, the BSA should go back to basics and all of our origins.
I just have a hard time believing that back in the early part of the 20th century, the BSA were using the word “straight” in any way referring to sexuality. If they were, they should have written the Constitution, because as amazing as that document was, those guys did not even have that amount of forethought. But to me it sounds like a group of crotchety old men hiding behind lawyers. The same old men that hid behind and continue to hide behind their lawyers while letting pedophiles run rampant in their ranks and blaming sexuality for their own mistakes…huh, you are right, I guess they do have a lot of influence from organized religion.
Either way, we are arguing the same side of the same story, if only our society and government would get on the ball that the BSA have rolling, this world might just end up being a better place.
Wow, I guess this answers my question on the religion thing…
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/04/16830205-gravely-distressed-religion-looms-large-over-boy-scouts-decision-on-gays?lite
Too bad.