Listening to that anti gay bigot made me very angry. If the scouts is "destroyed" by not treating people who have done nothing wrong like second class citizens then it deserves to be destroyed. I can't understand how a organization could legally discriminate like that let alone morally do it. They call America the land of the free unless your gay that it.
According to what the scout leader said, he doesn't have a problem with gay scouts or leaders, so long as they are discreet and keep it to themselves. When someone becomes out and proud and starts promoting 'the gay agenda', then there's a problem because that brings sex and politics into scouting, where they don't belong. Brings sex and politics into scouting? Umm... wow. :bang:
What fucking bigot, all of the bigots who are against having lgbt scouts should be banned. This is complete discrimination. I can't believe that in 2013 we still have these stupid bigots.
To some extent, he might be right. He did a terrlble job of getting his point across, but I think his main point is that if the national organization requires that gay scouts be allowed in scouting, hundreds, maybe thousands, of troops will drop out of the national organization because they are run by bigoted, religious churches that have no interest in supporting gay scouts or having gay people anywhere near them. So what he's saying is, we'll suddenly have a ton of places where the sponsoring organization no longer wants to sponsor scouting troops. What I think will happen is that other, non-bigoted organizations will step up and take over the troops, but I think his fear is, all these troops sponsored by places like the southern baptist churches and the catholic churches and the like will suddenly disappear. What will really be destroyed is one of the last major institutions that institutionally supports bigotry and prejudice.
Im sure a lot of parents are thinking that they need sponsors who are accepting of lgbt people in the scouts and if that doesnt work how much would it cost each of them to pay their own way to let there kids be in the scouts.
This is just my personal opinion here, but here, the option for having a co-ed group, or even an open or closed group is left up to the individual groups and sponsors. What if the same principle were applied in the BSA? Then there would be some groups who would be closed to lgbt youth (and therefore happy), and some that would be accepting (and also happy). Would this work in the US? You know, to make the whole thing more palatable to the most number of people. If the issue is made into a non-issue, over time it ought to slowly fade away on its own as the bigots die off.
Yeah, I see his point. Sponsoring organizations who have a problem with LGBT youth and adults may very well drop the program altogether if it requires them to treat LGBT people like, what's the word, oh yeah, people. "It will destroy scouting" is a bit extreme, though. While 70.3% of all the BSA troops are sponsored by churches, and their defection will probably cripple the organization temporarily, there are plenty of other organizations that can pick up the dropped programs. Schools, for instance, can charter troops, as well as civic organizations that aren't wrapped up in being discriminatory. So, basically, BSA is going to have to make a stand if they want to allow openly gay troops and, hopefully, troop leaders. Problem is, I think that measure was only introduced because of the pressure they were getting from civil rights organizations and the general public. The leaders of BSA don't seem to be interested in protecting or promoting human rights. I never liked the Boy Scouts, anyway. They wouldn't let me in because I'm a girl.
It seems one sure way to destroy the organisation would be by upholding the ban. Boy Scout Loses Funds Due To Gay Ban | New York Daily Sun - The Trusted New York Daily Broadsheet
Unfortunately, it wouldn't work here. Canada has much stronger laws protecting discrimination against LGBT people than we do here, and, on the whole, much more tolerance. The US is full of ignorant bigots, and apparently the BSA figured that out, becuase one idea they considered and rejected was letting individual troops make the decision of whether or not to accept gay members. They (correctly) figured out that making it optional wouldn't really solve the problem.
I love how people who are staunchly anti-GLBT always use the "allowing them to ____ will destroy us" and "gay agenda" speech. And the church funding this idiot is talking about is slowly disappearing due to people pulling out churches that insist on teaching hate and discrimination. Simply put, the "openly straight and others we do not talk about" world that this scout master is living in is dying off like the bigoted dinosaur that it is. The scouts either need to get with the times or go extinct clinging to their draconian rules.
The main fear is the Church of Latter Day Saints turning against the Boy Scouts of America, which they will do if they allow gay scouts. To a lesser extent there are fears about the Catholics and a bunch of the Southern Baptists, but the Mormons are the chief opposition within Scouting. Until the people not sponsoring troops and not funding BSA outweigh what the LDS provide, the discrimination will remain.
This guy really doesn't know what he's talking about at all. I'm a boy scout, (working on Eagle Scout project), and I know several of gay guys in the program, and honestly, no one cares at all. The adults don't know about it, because in my troop, the adults try to distance themselves from us so that we can lead ourselves.The scoutmasters would flip out about if they heard about any homosexual activity going on, but the guys are too busy playing with fire or beating each other up to care about something like that. The main point of scouting is to have a good time in the outdoors, do dangerous stuff, and occasionally learn about leadership. I've sailed in the Florida Keys for a week, backpacked across many locations in the south east, white water rafted, gone deep sea fishing, gone bouldering dozens of times, etc. Scouting is really a lot of fun and I think that every teen involved in it has a great time and learns a lot. Hopefully eventually, gay youth involved in it can be open with the adults about it. The Boy Scouts is a christian organization, so they don't support any sexual activity, which I believe is fine because they are standing up for what they believe in. What they fail to realize is that there is a difference between sexuality and sexual activity. Sexuality is just a word that is used to describe your orrentation (gay, straight, lesbian, bi), while sexual activity is actually getting it on. Just because there's gay guys in the troop doesen't mean that they are going to have sex. A ban on gay people in scouting doesen't prevent sexual activity from occurring. Two guys got kicked out of my troop because they got it on, and they both claim to be straight. If you get a group of guys, gay or straight, out in the woods without girls for a week, there will most likely be some things going on. But banning gays from scouts doesen't stop any of this from going on, because guys get bored out there. So, I believe that the scouting program should lift the ban on gays and focus more on what is acceptable and morally right. Sorry if this has really long!
I'm sorry, the gay agenda? What gay agenda is this then? The one that says 'be allowed to love who I want', 'be honest' and 'to exist'? Or the one thats all in his head.