Board member for Irving based Boy Scouts of America Opposes Ban on Gays

[Ishoutandscream2]

Source: Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20120613-board-member-for-irving-based-boy-scouts-of-america-opposes-ban-on-gays.ece

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20120613-board-member-for-irving-based-boy-scouts-of-america-opposes-ban-on-gays.ece

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Good on you, Mr. Turley.

[Gothmog]

1. There are a large number of leaders in BSA working to change this stupid policy

This article does not surprise me. There are a large number of leaders inside BSA who want to change the policy

[Iliyah]

2. I'm rooting for them

but alas they have to deal with the Catholic Bishops who have "gone wild". Look at the attacked on the Girl Scouts.

[Throckmorton]

3. The LDS Church will be a bigger impediment to this change.

Much of the program has been modified over the past 30 years to meet the needs of the LDS church. The heavy emphasis on New Scout Patrols, and First Class First year, among others.

[Xithras]

5. The problem is the Mormons...

The Mormon Church has embraced scouting in recent decades, and virtually every ward has chartered units for its boys where attendance is all but mandatory. They tend to run watered down, half-assed programs, but the church often pays the fees and the unit leadership is usually appointed by the church itself, so they account for a substantial percentage of the overall Scout membership nationally.

The Mormons have already put the BSA on notice that they will not permit gays into their units, and that they'll split from the BSA and found their own scouting organization if the national organization tries to force them to do so. Any attempt by the national council to implement a zero-discrimination policy would cause the BSA to lose nearly a third of its membership and revenue. Financially, a loss like that would cripple the organization and would force them to close many of its scout camps and services. There's even a chance that it could force the entire organization into bankruptcy.

That's why the new proposal is written the way it is. The rule change under review wouldn't "force" a non-discrimination policy on scouting units, but would let the individual units decide. That would allow the Mormons to continue with their bigotry, while letting the rest of the units open up to everyone.

[Gothmog]

7. I agree that the LDS units are the problem

Mormons account for less than 5% of the population but more than 15% of the scout units. When the Dale case was pending before the SCOTUS, the Mormons threatened to form their own organization. The BSA is scared of losing the support of the LDS units.

I like the proposed compromise. It reflects what is going on. Right now, my council which is one of the largest in the country operates on a "don't ask, don't tell" concept where basically no one cares so long as a scout leader does not wear their uniform to a gay pride event. The district that contains my troop has several gay leaders in high leadership positions but no one cares. If the BSA attempted to remove these leaders, the BSA would have a fight in that these leaders are from very progressive and politically active chartering organizations who could cause SHAC some problems with fund raising with United Way. For example, my temple has a number of members on the board on the United Way and I doubt that the Council would want to get into a fight with us.

My committee chair and I have visited with some of the professional leaders at our council and they would love to change the policy. Right now, my troop boycotts the council fund raising program in protest of the current policy and instead supports another troop who has some financial issues. The scout executive for our council is happy with this arrangement and really does not want to get into a fight on this issue.

[Xithras]

4. We'll be hearing a lot more about the BSA and gays over the next year.

An official proposal was recenly accepted by the BSA to revoke their national prohibition on gays and allow individual troops to decide whether to permit gay leaders and/or boys. By some estimates, that would open more than 95% of non-church chartered scouting units up to LGBT members, and probably about half of the religious units as well. While it's still not full acceptance, the proposal is designed to allow the ultra conservative units chartered by the Mormons and the Catholics to do their own exclusive thing, while other groups open up. My boys scouting units are chartered by a local police organization, and we would open them up in a heartbeat (not that it really matters...we already have a couple of gay families in the units, and the leaders would be thrown out of their positions by the other parents if any attempt were made to eject them).

The proposal is supposed to be under review until next year, when some committee will have an official report on its impacts. While that review is ongoing, I expect that we'll be seeing a lot of people speaking out, and a lot of high profile pressure applied to the Boy Scouts to get them to accept it. The proposal is certainly a compromise, but it would be a HUGE step forward for them.

[BBGC]

6. I don't know why anyone would want to join this organization

There are much better ones now.

[Xithras]

8. No, there's not.

I'm bi, and I was a scout (made it to Life). I'm a former Cubmaster and ASM with multiple units, serving my local council for 7 years before time conflicts forced me to resign. My oldest son made Life before transferring to a Venture crew. My youngest is working on his Webelos right now. It's fair to say that I'm pretty familiar with the organization.

While the BSA certainly has problems, there are no "better" scouting organizations for boys, and none that are even "as good". None offer the breadth of different programs, the massive collection of wilderness facilities and day camps, and the diversity of unit styles that the BSA has. If there were, we'd have jumped ship a LONG time ago. Because there isn't, I'd rather pour my efforts into fixing the problems with the existing organization.

Besides, most units just ignore the national directives anyway. My sons have been scouts alongside atheists, at least one gay scout, and under the supervision of several LGBT parent-leaders over the years. None have ever had a problem. The church-chartered units can be discriminatory, but that's why there are so many secular units. My sons units were all chartered by local nonprofits and a police auxiliary organization...so there were no fundies pulling the strings.

Most of the alternatives are either regional, have tiny units that often exist only on paper, or offer programs that boil down to "we do craftwork and go camping sometimes". When my son went into the Boy Scouts, we learned that there were four different secular units within 20 minutes of our home. He got to choose between units that focused heavily on badgework, focused heavily on activities in the outdoors, or units that were dedicated to civic and social work. He ended up choosing to go into a troop with about 40 boys that is dedicated to outdoor exploration and environmental stewardship. While in, he did everything from camping and hiking on a bi-weekly basis (with 50 mile bike rides thrown in bimonthly), to spending weekends hauling tons of trash out of nearby creeks and rivers. There are NO non-BSA youth programs that offer that kind of choice, or programs that are even remotely comparable.