Boy Scouts review controversial anti-gay policy

Well....I suppose it's about time lol.

 

BSA's refusal to allow LGBT and atheist boys to join is utterly ridiculous and should have been changed years ago.

 

I keep forgetting this archaic system is still in place.
Here in the Netherlands we have both theistic and secular Boy Scouts.
And even in most theistic Boy Scouts clubs, atheist are allowed to join, though I'm not certain about LGBT people.

 

Good, because that's why I left (or a reason. I also hated all that camping crap.)

Have you guys ever read the official handbook? There's a section on "what to do in a gay situation". No necessarily titled that, but for all purposes, that's what it is. I think it's a sexual abuse section with different stories about kids who kid pulled into gay sex situations. One gets his crotch grabbed in public, another nearly gets put into a porno, all this ridiculous stuff.

Not only that, every year we had to watch this stupid 1980's PSA movie "A Time to Tell" which featured boys in situations of male-male sexual abuse and when to spot it. Oh God, it was funny (to me at least). One kid was at a father's friend house to do some work, took a shower there, and the guy tried to get in the shower with him. For another, it was a group of boys that would get together at an older boy's house, who would have them drink and wrestle with each other naked, and he'd film it all. To make it better, at the end it made it seem like the guy was in gay-conversion therapy. There was a third but I can't remember.

And they treated this stuff with all sorts of seriousness. Yet all the boys pretty much made fun of this (and stuff do) behind the leader's backs. It was all a big joke, for the most part. I always wondered why we met in churches, and one time asked if any Jewish or Muslim kids could join boy scouts.

Got no answers.

 

Oh my goodness, if they go through with that change, I can't even begin to imagine the uproar for way too many different groups to count.

 

Wait--is that Zach Wahls the Zach Wahls with two moms who advocates for marriage equality? ... (goes to read article)


IT IS!!!! I love that guy! Totally one of my political heroes these days.

Just in case anyone hasn't seen it: [YOUTUBE]FSQQK2Vuf9Q[/YOUTUBE]

So amazing. If he's taking on the Boy Scouts' policy, I'm not so surprised they're at least debating it. This guy would be hard to just dismiss out of hand.

I love you, Zach Wahls... Perhaps some day I shall read your upcoming book with my children. Love makes a family, yay...

:thewave:

 

On another note, it isn't even called boy scouts here, it's called 'scouting' as both genders can be scouts and/or scout leaders.

 

Scouts Canada already allows membership by any youth or adult, regardless of religious views, gender, or sexual orientation. It's done so for years.

It hasn't fallen apart yet. Maybe the BSA could take notice of that.

 

As an Eagle Scout, I really, really hope this goes through. My dad pushed me for years to keep following up with the BSA every time they sent out notices asking for updates on what Eagle Scouts were doing. I hemmed and hawed as best I could, but finally relinquished and called their toll-free number to tell them what I've been doing, but I'd be damned if I'd give them any money to buy their book they were hawking.

Sad thing is, my years in Boy Scouts were some of the best, especially when my father served as Scout Leader. The BSA's homophobia aside, the lessons and morals imparted by the Boy Scouts are very good and can have lifelong positive effects yet, even when I was a child, I was uneasy and a little bit afraid of the "morally straight" clause that I had to say at every meeting. No child, or adult, should ever have to second guess themselves and feel at odds with an organization they love simply because of who they are.

I'm also saddened by the number of the really ugly comments and remarks aimed at the Boy Scouts due to some of their policies. Thus, I'm greatly conflicted. If it hadn't been for the scouts, I doubt I would of had any friends in middle school, nor any of the really great memories of camping, field trips, and all of the activities I used to partake in. The BSA's homophobic policies aside, it's a really good organization that does great things for young boys and men. That being said, if their current policy isn't overturned, I'm sending back my Eagle Scout award and dropping my affiliation with them. It seems the best way at the moment for me to vent my frustrations with an organization that did so much good for me. I really hope it doesn't come to that.

 

I hope it doesn't, but if it come to that you should make sure somehow it goes public. Maybe start a trend and it'd cascade from there.

I always wanted to be in boy scouts as a kid. Girl scouts, for the couple months I was in it was kind of lame.