The End of the Boy Scout Ban on Gay Scouts

I grew up in the 60s and 70s and during my formative years I was a Boy Scout, earning the rank of Eagle in 1976. As anyone alive back then knows, gays were thoroughly closeted. I didn’t even meet anyone who admitted to being gay until my junior year of college. It is a far cry from today. I now know I have relatives who are gay. I have worked with and for gay people and know gay people in my church.

As an adult and a Scout leader, first as a Cub Master starting in 2002, and later as an Assistant Scout Master, I have been very uncomfortable with the BSA’s ban on gay members and gay leaders.

So why did I stick with the program despite my misgivings? 

The reason was because Scouting had a great deal of positive influence on me as a child. I learned practical skills (knots, lashing, camping cooking, and lifesaving) which I would not have learned anywhere else. Scouting had a great deal to do with the character I have today. Likewise my son, who will be submitting his Eagle application soon, also learned these skills and invaluable lessons in leadership.  He found a home in Scouting and will be starting his second year as a summer camp counselor in a month.

For me, there was more to lose by not being in Scouting.

I remember having a discussion with other scout leaders in the late 90s about the ban on gays and the general response was “This is the only way to protect our kids”.

To me, this idea is at the heart of BSA’s problem with homosexuals. In my opinion, they continue to conflate homosexuals with child molesters, which is not true at all.  A review of studies that can be found at http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html cites one study, among many, which states:

“The research to date all points to there being no significant relationship between a homosexual lifestyle and child molestation.”

BSA had many scandals where child predators, under the guise of adult leaders assaulted innocent children during the 70s and 80s.  For many years, the BSA covered up these incidents in a manner similar to the Catholic Church.

In response to these scandals, the BSA instituted a Youth Protection Training program many years ago for both adults and youth to address issues for kids such as recognizing potential predators and what is and is not acceptable behavior for scouts respecting privacy. For example: don’t take pictures of other scouts in the latrine or with no clothes on, and so forth. Today, no scout is allowed to be alone with an adult out of view of others, something unheard of when I was a kid.

Interestingly, the Girl Scouts have no ban on homosexuals in their ranks, either children or adults. You don’t hear anyone complaining about that policy. I wonder why that is.

Arguments against the lifting of the ban came from parents who thought that Packs, Troops, Posts and Venture Crews sponsored by religious organizations would lose these sponsors, leaving these local organizations without a home or supporting funding, in addition to the loss of parents and scouts whose religious or moral standards preclude association with gays.

One blog post I read today by a father who is quitting Scouts due to the ending of the ban on gays included statements like this:

[The] “. . . new policy forces every chartered Scouting unit, irrespective of religious convictions, to facilitate open homosexuality among boys in their program.”

Open homosexuality? I disagree – it’s about making homosexuality a non-issue.

“Parents should have the exclusive right to raise issues about sex and sexuality with their children in their own time and in their own way, in the privacy of their homes, not brought up by other older boys around a campfire.”

I got news for you buddy – sexuality is very often discussed by boys around a campfire and in a whole lot of other places - like school lunch rooms or the local pizza shop. What rock is he living under? Given the Youth Protection Program requirements – Scouting is addressing sexuality, whether he likes it or not.

By the time many youth today get to high school, they know kids who are gay, bisexual or transgendered. For most people in their teens and twenties, homosexuality is a non-issue. It's something some people are, just like some people are black. It was not that long ago that just being black was an issue.

I would also point out that the policy which the BSA ended yesterday was causing them to lose corporate gifts, United Way funding as well as access to use public school facilities. Note that when I was a child, Pack and Troop meetings were held in elementary school gymnasiums. Not anymore.

The Scouting Council that serves Westborough, Knox Trail Council (KTC), has consistently been against the policy of the National Organization banning gays from being members of Scouting. It has been the council’s policy to change these standards:

“KTC stands behind its earlier recommendation to the BSA to remove from the membership standard for both youth and adult members any reference to homosexuality . . . Since its inception in the 1990’s, KTC has welcomed every family and every youth member” (emphasis theirs).

The way I see it, if the United States armed services have no problems with homosexual soldiers AND officers and understand the loss of talented and committed volunteer soldiers who happen to be gay under their previous policy, it is time for the BSA to come to that realization as well.

BSA’s policy had been to “. . . not grant membership to individuals who engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the BSA.”

In actuality, the BSA ban on homosexual Scouts and leaders HAS become THE distraction. 

Their decision to start to back off the idea that gay Scouts are a problem is a welcome start. I hope that they will someday accept that gay parents love their children and are assets as well.