I got the heads up on this via Twitter:
BEST FRIDAY NEWS DUMP EVER RT @mckaycoppins: Whoa. RT @reutersus: Boy Scouts to end ban on gay members: spokesperson reut.rs/11lnjVg
— Brendan Loy (@brendanloy) April 19, 2013
Here’s the article:
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Boy Scouts of America called to end a long-standing ban on openly gay members, a spokesman said on Friday, but the organization’s board must still vote in May on whether to ratify the resolution.
If the vote is approved, “no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone,” Deron Smith, the organization’s spokesman, told Reuters.
Smith noted that the decision drew from three months of research, surveys and discussions and was “among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today.”
The deliberations over whether to admit openly gay and lesbian members to the Boy Scouts has divided organizers, polarized its corporate and religious sponsors, and placed the group at the center of a nationwide debate over gay rights over the past two years.
I don’t agree with the “most complex” bit, at least as it pertains to the BSA. Still, I can understand why they would say that from their perspective. Either way, good on the BSA.
3 replies on “BSA Ban on Gays Coming to an End”
Problem is they are only halfway there…how can scouts understand that everyone is equal, help you common man and woman, if their leadership and guides do not reflect that truth? Too bad, they tried to do a good thing and in the end, screwed it up…their half-hearted effort to do the right thing still does not completely open the doors to inclusion and equality. The ultimate result and message here is actually the exact opposite.
I missed that detail, and I agree it’s weaselly. I don’t think it’s quite as bad as you interpret it to be and, ultimately, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
I really think that they are just hedging their bets in an attempt to make a PR splash. I think they are betting that they won’t have a lot of issues with anyone before their 18th birthdays and at that stage, the kids will be moving away from active membership in the scouts as it is…essentially, they are willing to gamble that not a lot of kids are going to be “out” at the scouting stage of their life. They are essentially agreeing to turn and look the other way until they have the ability to exclude you down the line, if you don’t ultimately fit their ideal image.
Leadership, on the other hand, would be an entirely other matter for them. So this is their way of accepting the homosexual community, with the hope of not actually having to accept the homosexual community. Hell, those crotchety old men at the top probably figure they can put all the kids in a room with Michelle Bachman and she will “cure” their homosexuality. I really think this is a half-hearted effort and more a PR move than anything. My hope is that people do not buy into it and put their feet to the fire. Be inclusive or be exclusive, and then be ready to face the realities for one of those stances.
Teaching your kids to stand on the fence in the hopes of not having to face consequences is not teaching them anything at all. The scouting leadership is weak and out dated, like much of the government that is out there in our society today. I guess, in reality, I should not have expected any more from them. I guess, in truth, I really did not.