Boy Scouts Open Ranks to Gay Youth on Jan. 1
by Breitbart News 28 Dec 2013,
10:53 AM PDT
(AP) Boy Scouts open ranks to gay youth on Jan. 1
By DAVID CRARY and NOMAAN MERCHANT
Associated Press
The Boy Scouts of America will
accept openly gay youths starting on New Year's Day, a historic change that has
prompted the BSA to ponder a host of potential complications _ ranging from
policies on tentmates and showers to whether Scouts can march in gay pride
parades.
Yet despite their be-prepared
approach, BSA leaders are rooting for the change to be a non-event, comparable
to another New Year's Day in 2000 when widespread fears of digital-clock chaos
to start the new millennium proved unfounded.
"My hope is there will be the
same effect this Jan. 1 as the Y2K scare," said Brad Haddock, a BSA
national executive board member who chairs the policy implementation committee.
"It's business as usual, nothing happens and we move forward."
Some churches are dropping their
sponsorship of Scout units because of the new policy and some families are
switching to a new conservative alternative called Trail Life USA. But
massive defections haven't materialized and most major sponsors, including the
Roman Catholic and Mormon churches, are maintaining ties.
"There hasn't been a whole
lot of fallout," said Haddock, a lawyer from Wichita, Kan.
"If a church said they wouldn't work with us, we'd have a church right
down the street say, `We'll take the troop.'"
The new policy was approved in
May, with support from 60 percent of the 1,400 voting members of the BSA's
National Council. The vote followed bitter nationwide debate, and was
accompanied by an announcement that the BSA would continue to exclude openly
gay adults from leadership positions.
Under the new membership policy,
youths can no longer be barred from the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts or coed
Venturers program solely on the basis of sexual orientation. However, gay
Scouts will face some limitations.
"Any sexual conduct, whether
heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues
of Scouting," says one BSA document. "No member may use Scouting to
promote or advance any social or political position or agenda, including on the
matter of sexual orientation."
Trying to anticipate potential
friction, the BSA has distributed extensive explanations and
question-and-answer documents related to the policy.
Some examples:
Could a Scout march in uniform in
a gay-pride parade? No, says the BSA. "Each youth member is free as an
individual to express his or her thoughts or take action on political or social
issues but must not use Scouting's official uniforms and insignia when doing
so."
How publicly active could a gay
Scout be, in terms of gay-rights advocacy? The BSA's reply: "While a youth
member may acknowledge his or her sexual preference, that acknowledgment may
not reach the level of distraction, which may include advocacy, promotion, or
the distribution of information of a sexual nature."
A frequently-asked-questions document
anticipates that some objections might surface from parents _ or Scouts
themselves _ in cases where a unit includes an openly gay boy.
Regarding shower and toilet
facilities, the BSA says it is encouraging units to provide greater individual
privacy, including moving away from the tradition of group showers.
"The adult leaders have the
discretion to arrange private showering times and locations," the BSA
says.
Sleeping arrangements also are
addressed, with specific decisions left to unit leaders.
"If a Scout or parent of a
Scout makes a request to not tent with another Scout, their wishes should be
honored," says the BSA.
Haddock says "isolated
pockets" of problems are likely to surface, but overall he expects adult
leaders will have the skills to defuse potential conflicts.
There are about 1 million adult
leaders and 2.6 million youth members in Scouting in the U.S. Of the
roughly 110,000 Scout units, 70 percent are sponsored by religious
organizations, including several conservative denominations that had long
supported the BSA's exclusion of gay youth and gay adults.
Among the major sponsors, the
Southern Baptist Convention made clear its disappointment with the new youth
policy, but left the decision on whether to cut ties up to local churches. An
SBC spokesman, Sing Oldham, said it was not known how many churches have done
so.
The biggest sponsor of Scout units
_ the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints _ commended the
BSA for a "thoughtful, good-faith effort" to address a challenging
issue, and said it would stay engaged in Scouting.
John Gailey of the Utah National
Parks Council, the nation's largest council, said its youth membership had
increased from 74,148 in December 2012 to 75,863 this month.
Like the Mormons, the Roman
Catholic Church has generally accepted the new policy. Many parishes will
continue to sponsor Scout units, though a few have considered cutting ties.
The National Catholic Committee on
Scouting posted a question-and-answer document on its website, delving into the
intersection of Scouting policy and Catholic teaching.
"The Catechism of the
Catholic Church teaches that individuals who disclose a same-sex attraction are
to be treated with the same dignity due all human beings ... and also teaches
that engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage is always immoral,"
says the Q-and-A, concluding that the new BSA policy does not contradict
Catholic teaching.
The ultimate decision on whether
parishes would maintain or cut ties with the BSA was left to individual
bishops. Several expressed cautious support for continuing in Scouting.
"As the new policy currently
stands, I see no reason to prohibit our parishes from sponsoring Boy Scout
troops," said Rev. Kevin Rhoades, bishop of Indiana's Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese.
"At the same time, it is critical that we be vigilant on how this new policy
is interpreted and implemented."
One likely target of such scrutiny
will be former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, scheduled to take over in the
spring as the BSA's next president. As leader of the Pentagon, Gates helped
change the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy banning openly
gay soldiers, and gay-rights groups hope he will try to end the BSA's ban on
gay adult leaders.
The new youth policy was approved
during a BSA meeting in May in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, near the Scouts' national
headquarters in Irving, Texas.
Texas has a long heritage of Scouting, with tens of thousands of
youth members and many families claiming generations of Eagle Scouts. Among
them is Gov. Rick Perry, who achieved Scouting's highest rank growing up in the
small town of Paint Creek.
The membership debate was closely
followed by local Scouts on both sides; some carried signs and held rallies
outside the meeting place. But in subsequent months, the debate has quieted.
Bill Helfand, scoutmaster of Troop
55 in Houston,
said membership in his troop has remained steady at about 225 boys.
"We never considered sexual
orientation, and I don't think many troops really did," Helfand said.
"I don't know whether we had Scouts who are homosexual. I don't inquire
... It's not a matter of concern."
Helfand said the membership
debate, while closely covered in the media, did not extend into his meetings
with leaders and parents, besides occasional discussion of the policy at
camp-outs. He says he hasn't talked to any Scout about his sexual orientation
and doesn't intend to.
"I know that this is
something that people felt was a momentous turning point for Scouting,"
Helfand said. "Everybody I know has made Scouting available to every boy
who wants it, and that's what we continue to do."
However, some Texas
parents and leaders have decided to switch to Trail Life USA, an
alternative which declares itself "a Christian adventure, character, and
leadership program for young men." Among them is Ron Orr, a business
consultant from the Fort Worth
area who is signing up local units for the group.
So far, he said he has 25 groups
"pre-chartered" for a Jan. 1 launch date in the territory covered by
the BSA's Circle Ten and Longhorn councils. That's modest compared to the
39,000 Scouts served by the Circle Ten council alone.
Orr is part of a family with four
generations of Eagle Scouts. His older son recently earned his Eagle rank and
his younger son was on the verge of doing likewise. But Orr said he could not
stand by after the policy change.
"As Christians, from a
scriptural basis, we love all folks, but the scripture is very clear that being
homosexual is a sin," Orr said. "We've got to be able to hold a
strong line and set a consistent example for our young men."
Orr said his decision to cut ties
with the BSA rested in part on the Scout Oath, which includes the admonition to
remain "morally straight."
Scott Scarborough of Lubbock, Texas,
is helping Orr recruit Trail Life members in the Texas Panhandle, a mostly
rural, conservative region. Scarborough said
he offered to let his 14-year-old son stay in Boy Scouts and achieve his Eagle
rank, but the boy elected to join him in Trail Life.
Orr and Scarborough
said they didn't consider themselves rivals to the Boy Scouts, though they've
chosen a different path.
"Our tradition comes out of
Boy Scouts," Scarborough said.
"We'll never not honor that heritage."
Boy Scouts
John
C. Whitehead is a co-chairman for the Greater
New York Councils of the Boy Scouts, a director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), an honorary trustee
at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee.
Note: John J.
Studzinski is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), a director at the Human
Rights Watch, and a papal knighthood
knight.
papal knighthood
is an honor conferred by pope from the Roman
Catholic Church.
Benedict
XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) is the
pope emeritus for the Roman Catholic
Church.
Was Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) A Nazi? Why Join
the Hitler Youth?
By Austin Cline
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), and the Human Rights Watch.
George
Soros was a benefactor for the Human
Rights Watch, is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights Watch, the Brookings
Institution (think tank), the International
Rescue Committee, and the Robin Hood
Foundation.
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, was a leadership council member for the Robin Hood Foundation, and supported same-sex marriage in New York.
Emma
Bloomberg was a senior planning officer for the Robin Hood Foundation, and is Michael
R. Bloomberg’s daughter.
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a donor for the Robin
Hood Foundation, is Emma Bloomberg’s
father, and the New York (NY) mayor.
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