Comments on: Fed court asks Calif. to weigh in on Boy Scouts case

By: sw

sw — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:07:58 +0000

Former BSA national council member and author here. I was involved in opening all adult leadership postions to women and increasing access for youth with disabilities; left when I saw there would never be movement on the gay or atheist issues– where they REFUSE to serve youth. As long as 25% of the national council’s chaplain core is reserved for Mormon elders and 25% is reserved for Roman Cathlic priests, they will NOT be changing their religious tune. The BSA is the OFFICIAL youth organization for mormon boys.

By: JayC

JayC — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:10:21 +0000

I find the Boy Scouts’ official position on this rather amusing. I was a Boy Scout many decades ago, but I do remember that sexual experimentation was one of the more popular activities on camp outs, even if it wasn’t officially sanctioned. Perhaps the leadership needs a dose of reality.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:39:21 +0000

This is about discrimination against gay and lesbian youth. The BSA is homophobic and wants to create their version of America, one which believes in one creed, and one way to love. I wish our community had chosen to protest the violence aimed at LGBT youth, instead of same-sex marriage rights, because we have all experienced such violence as youth but not all of us wish to be married. Also, there is more harm done to us when we are young, than as established adults.

By: Matt Comer

Matt Comer — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:13:40 +0000

Why does every media outlet — mainstream or gay — always ignore the real gay Boy Scout issue: discrimination against gay youth members.

http://www.interstateq.com/archives/3196/

By: reggie brown

reggie brown — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:08:27 +0000

Good one Chuck, I would have had to do the same. If I had ever reached that highest of rank,I too would have considered my Parents a “Higher Power”..!

By: Trace

Trace — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:15:51 +0000

Chuck, thank you for posting that. As a former Scout, I’m shocked that such things are on a site attributed to the BSA.

Now mind you, I’m Christian, but the scouts were never about just one form of religious belief.

By: chuck

chuck — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:11:05 +0000

The scout oath and law still ring in my ears.

A scout is ‘trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent’

When I first joined scouting, the only one that had anything to do with god was the reverent thing, and the BSA didn’t pound that drum with any sort of regularity.

As a sign of the times, check *this* out:

http://www.scouting.org/Media/Relationships/ascoutisrevernt/ss04.aspx

Almost every point has been aligned with a bible reference.

What about scouts that are not christian?
What about scouts that are muslim?
What about scouts that don’t follow a particular faith?

Once upon a time, the scouting program was a program for boys, not just a program for christian boys. It breaks my heart to see what has been done to the scouting program over the many years since I used to pull on my elephant nose warmers.

What makes it worse, is that a scout who is trustworthy and comes forward as a gay scout, is outcast for dutifully following his conscience and heart. Then he is removed from his scouting family for essentially following the scout law!

Until the day the scouting program returns as something for ALL boys I think that the removal of city and state level support is entirely justified.

By: Dave W

Dave W — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:26:44 +0000

that’s really funny chuck! I love hoodwinking the religios nut jobs with better logic than they can handle.

Aleasha, ummm, English is in use here. I never read that the Boy Scouts are a religion, which is what you say is ridiculous (correctly), it is a religious organization. Like Catholic Charities, Knights of Columbus. Religion there is Catholic, organization something else!

The Boy Scouts are despicable in my opinion. Pushing people into the closet which as we know causes all kinds of abhorrent behaviour. Banning openly gay scout masters does not protect the little boys…pedophiles are not openly gay and likely not even gay!

By: chuck

chuck — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:33:44 +0000

Eagle scout from san diego here. At my eagle review, a panel of scout council reps asked me one question before they granted me my rank.

“Do you believe in a higher power?”

If I had said ‘No’, I would have been denied the rank that I spent my childhood striving towards. Luckily, at the time I considered my parents a ‘Higher Power’ so I was able to truthfully answer ‘Yes’ to the question.

By: Aleasha

Aleasha — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:28:16 +0000

The BSA is not a private religious organization. That is rediculous. When asked your religion, who answers, “I’m a Boy Scout!” That is just stupid. I am a proud Unitarian Universalist. People need to stop centering their entire lives on religion and start loving and accepting one another.