Boy Scouts may soon welcome gay youths, leaders
 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...PzfQpe66T6Y1jX

Oren Dorell and Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY2:46p.m. EST January 28, 2013

As early as next week, the Boy Scouts of America may announce it will allow gay Scouts and troop leaders, a spokesman for the group has told USA TODAY.
If this policy shift is approved by the national board meeting next week, it will be a sharp reversal of the Scouts' decades' old national policy banning homosexuals.
"The policy change under discussion would allow the religious, civic or educational organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting to determine how to address this issue," BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Only seven months ago, the Boy Scouts affirmed its ban on gays after a nearly two-year examination of the issue by a committee of volunteers convened by national leaders of the Boy Scouts of America, known as the BSA. However, local chapters and some members of the national board -- corporate CEO Randall Stephenson of AT&T and James Turley of Ernst & Young -- called for a reconsideration.
The proposed new policy would leave decisions on membership and leadership up to the BSA' s 290 local governing councils and 116,000 sponsoring religious and civic groups.
"Scouting has always been in an ongoing dialogue with the Scouting family to determine what is in the best interest of the organization and the young people we serve," Smith told USA TODAY.
"The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members or parents. Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization's mission, principles or religious beliefs," he said.
The announcement comes after a campaign to change the policy that lasted more than a year and garnered more than 1.2 million online signatures at Chang.org, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), an advocacy group.
"The Boy Scouts of America have heard from scouts, corporations and millions of Americans that discriminating against gay scouts and scout leaders is wrong," GLAADpresident Herndon Graddick said in a statement.
"This would be an incredible step forward in the right direction," said Zach Wahls, Eagle Scout and founder of Scouts for Equality. Wahls said his group will work with BSA councils and chartering organizations across the country to end exclusion of gays.
NBC News first reported the story.

That's it. There goes the neighborhood.

Funny but SOOOO WRONG:D

Why could they have not adopted a version of don't ask don't tell? Who gives a dam about the young lads sexual orientation, can little Johnny read a map, start a fire, tie knots, etc?

The Agenda
 

It's the Agenda.

It's an interesting ball of string we have here.

The majority of folks pushing the BSA to open up to gays don't have and will not ever have kids in Cub Scouts or the BSA.

There has been some Scouts who are gay - but the ones in the news came out and demanded to be accepted.

Most adults involved with Scouting have kids somewhere in the program.

I think a number of parents who have kids in Scouting would be more than a bit uncomfortable sending the lad off to the woods with a gay adult who has no kids in the program.

Reminds me of Canteen Boy from SNL

Canteen Boy

This is such bs. All this gay equality stuff should not even be in play intil the age of 18. What next, gay equality on the high school football team?

What's the problem? Evidently, it's hip 'n' cool to be homo, now. :rolleyes:

Adopted kids and test-tube babies?
--

"On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to G-d and my country, and to obey the Scout Law: To help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight."

I can't wait to see how drastically the Scout Oath changes after this.

Think of all the new merit badges that can be instituted...........

I read somewhere that the BSA does not allow firearms for protection, such as when camping.

I know when people get old they say, "The world has changed" when often it is them. In this case though, the world has changed.

For TRUE equal treatment, we need to start seeing some BoyScout cookies...

...why should the girl scouts get to monopolize the cookie market

Why not let the gay boys join the Girl Scouts. ;)

As for the new merit badges, a few have been suggested.

Tent Decorating

Creative Campsite Landscaping

Prairie Flower Arranging

Cast Iron Tofu Cooking

French Cheese Preservation on the Trail

Bear Whispering

How to Remotely DVR the Bravo Channel

The BSA basically kicked this down to the local council level to let them decide. However, your post is pretty much spot on in that it would be very difficult for an adult without a child in the organization becoming a leader or volunteer. The most likely scenario I can think of is a gay couple with a child (adopted or such) that wants to put them in the organization....but how likely is that really?

The other issue is that if a scout grows up in the program only to decide at 16 or 18 that they are gay, the organization will not deny continued advancement or participation.

I guess it is time to change the will.

Being an active adult member of one of the largest troops in the nation (usually 15+ patrols of 10 boys each + a corps of 20-30 boys working on Eagle and acting in a staff supporting role + a 15 boy leadership staff of 17-18 yo's) in Dallas when my sons were in Scouting, I saw a number of boys over the years who were suspected of being gay and later admitted to being gay. However, they just went about their business of being kids in a scouting program, bothering nobody and nobody bothering them in a DADT sense, and were just accepted members of the troop who did as well in the program as any of the other boys.

I suspect it will boil down to individual personalities within the individual troops, but have to wonder how some church organizations supporting Scouting will reconcile the philosophical dilemma this move creates for them.

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

And that's the rub..
 

And that's the rub. As I understand it - the push is coming from 2 board members (CEOs of large Corporations).

The problem for the Gay Agenda Folks was that it was a National policy - their fight was with the board. That gave cover, so to say, for the local organizations.

When the policy making is kicked down to the local level the fight will now be fought there. This will cause a big ruckus in the local news. If the local Scouts change their policy look for religious organizations to pull their support.

My church supports Brownies, GS's, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. They have free run of the place for meetings, activities, what ever. The church leadership has been a bit ticked off with the GS's but put up with them to have the "total" package. The local BSA changes it's policy and the church would probably ask all the scouts to find a new sponsor.

But, Hey, I'm sure all the lib groups that pushed the agenda stand willing to pick up the slack with time, money and places to meet.

Not mention agendas...

What's next-NAMBLA Merit Badge?

The Homosexual Superhumans and the BSA
 

Good point.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/214979.php

True,
In all the years I was a scout, in 4 different troops, all of our troops met in a church, and at times volunteered with a church. My last troop kind of ruined my view of the organization. There was racism (surprisingly, no discrimination against the gay kids) rampant throughout the youth and the adult leadership. I know that is not the entire organization and I had some great learning experiences being a scout, but it only takes one to undo the good of many.

Invasion...Succession...Domination. The socialogical phenomena that defines minority integration. But would you care about one's orientation if he (she) pulled your ass out of the fire? When I was younger I had a gay (unkown to me at the time) roommate. Always paid his rent, didn't eat my food, never hit on my girlfriends, kept the house clean and never peed in the shower.

I'm not dogging you brother, but you may want to get your "gaydar" adjusted...those are some key intel indicators...

Roommate

Whoa, how do you know that? :D

Pat

Something to consider:

Venture Crews (co-ed program in Scouting for 14-21 year olds) prohibits youth (under 21) members of the opposite sex from tenting or showering with one another, and non-married adults of the opposite sex can't tent or shower together either. How will the this standing policy be applied to gay Scouts? Will each gay Scout have to tent separately? Do we assume, as mentioned in BlueBB's post that these 11-18 year old gay Scouts somehow have stronger willpower than most 11-14 heterosexual boys? Do we just have to accept that gay Scouts are allowed to ogle hetero Scouts, so long as they don't act?

These questions are of the same variety that DOD deftly ignored when repealing the DADT rules last year. I fully expect BSA to conveniently ignore them as well.

BS
 

As far as gay-dar comments go I'll let the profound words of a gay roommate I had once (same kind a guy, reliable with rent, good cook, left my girlfriend alone but could explain all the incomprehensible thing I did, owned a couch. . . ),
"Chicks don't dig Bob, why would I?"

Well, Hell, bro, I am a happily married man, who do females need a separate shower when we are deployed? I can control myself. Well, better than I could at 16, anyway.

For that matter, why not go back to the old school, and just have gang latrines and showers, gender immaterial. You could get to know one another better while sitting on the pot.

As far as Scouts go, I am glad that my son is almost done with Life and will soon be preparing for Eagle. He should be done in 18-24 months.

Hopefully, that will be before the lawsuits from the molestation that will occur under this new policy bankrupts the organization.

Not exactly sure why we have such serious two man adult rules, and we are going to be pairing up gay and non-gay scouts for future activities alone together. What could go wrong?

16 year old gay boys must be able to control themselves and their urges better than 46 year old priests, anyway.

This will not end well, but the few gay scouts that we gain will surely outweigh any negative consequences that might occur. Right?

TR

lol Another freaking lib goatcluster.

so...
when will girl scouts be able to join the boy scouts and vice versa............

Give it time. You'll start seeing the "trans-kids" wanting to join pretty soon here.

:munchin

This will be a no-go for a lot of parents so I think we will see a decline in the numbers that participate in Scouts.

A damn shame.


It called Venturing.....Boys and Girls playing in the woods whay could possibly go wrong....I know one mother who wasn't pleased with the results

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Venturing.aspx

I'm totally sceptical of any "mission statement" that includes the word "caring". That's how we got in this mess in the first place.

Time to change the will.

I remember soing something like that myself when I was a teenager, except it included beer.

Ruining of American, by satisfying one small fringe goup at a time.
Sad.
Wish we could turn back the hands of time; only to stamp out PC when it started.
m&c