Boy Scouts vote to end ban on openly gay youth members

[Jolie Rouge]

By Jason Sickles, Yahoo! | The Lookout – 13 mins ago..

DALLAS – The Boy Scouts of America, one of the country’s largest and oldest youth organizations, decided Thursday to break 103 years of tradition by allowing openly gay members into its ranks.

The controversial move was approved by more than 60 percent of the approximate 1,400 votes cast by the BSA’s national council. According to the new resolution, beginning Jan. 1, 2014, "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”

“The resolution also reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting,” the BSA stated in a press release. Lifting the organization’s ban on gay adult volunteer leaders and paid staff was not considered and remains in place.

The historic change comes 13 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that BSA is a private club that is allowed to set its own rules for membership. Since then, public pressure has mounted for the Texas-based organization to change the exclusion, especially last year, when a gay California teen was denied his Eagle Scout award and an Ohio lesbian was removed as a den mother from her son’s troop. Still, just 10 months ago, the Scouts reaffirmed their stance, saying a two-year confidential review revealed a majority of the organization’s parents wanted to keep the policy. http://news.yahoo.com/despite-protests-boy-scouts-reaffirm-ban-gays-191616255.html

The about-face to put it to a vote came “out of respect for the diverse beliefs of Scouting's chartered organizations,” according to the BSA website.

The emotionally charged issue has seen those for and against wage costly public relations campaigns and has fostered intense debate from coast to coast. “My concern all along has been boy-on-boy sexual contact,” John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout and organizer of On My Honor, told the Dallas Morning News in April. “If this resolution passes, it will be open season for gay young men. How do we protect the Scouts who are not gay?”

Gay-rights activists have held a public summit this week, not far from the location of the annual BSA gathering. “There is nothing Scout-like about exclusion of other people, and there is nothing Scout-like about putting your own religious beliefs before someone else’s,” Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout and founder of Scouts for Equality, told supporters at a Wednesday rally.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/boy-scouts-vote-end-ban-openly-gay-youth-221438621.html

An organization with a mission to mold boys into men by building character, values and faith instead chooses to go against it's mission.

I personally know of three groups that will lose their Charter Organization's support becuase the churches that have hosted Scouting groups for more then fifty years, do not want to be held morally or legally liable. Instead of "Two Deep" leadership and the Buddy system, everyone will have to go to Three Deep - or more. Camping is going to be impacted

[Jolie Rouge]

BREAKING: THE RESOLUTION HAS PASSED
Click the link below for OnMyHonor.Net's full statement:

Grapevine, TX – Following the vote today by the Boy Scouts of America’s voting delegates to pass the resolution allowing “open and avowed homosexuality” in the Boy Scouts, John Stemberger, Founder of OnMyHonor.Net, a coalition of members of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) including parents, Scoutmasters, Eagle Scouts and other Scouting leaders who affirm Scouting’s timeless values, made the following statement:

“It is with great sadness and deep disappointment that we recognize on this day that the most influential youth program in America has turned a tragic corner. The vote today to allow open and avowed homosexuality into Scouting will completely transform it into an unprincipled and risky proposition for parents. It is truly a sad day for Scouting.

The Boy Scouts of America has a logo that bears the phrase ‘Timeless Values.’ Today, the BSA can no longer use this phrase in good faith. It has demonstrated by its actions that the organization’s values are not timeless, and instead they are governed by changing tides of polls, politics and public opinion.

The saddest part of today’s decision is what the organization is teaching our children and young people in the program.

The BSA is teaching our kids that when your values become unpopular, just change them.

The BSA is teaching our kids that when your convictions are challenged, just cave to peer pressure.

The BSA is teaching our kids that public opinion polls are more important than principles.

Today, the BSA is teaching our kids that you should not stand up for what is right instead you should stand up for what is popular.

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to “prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law.”

BSA is teaching our kids through its new mission that we don’t make ethical and moral choices through the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law but we make them like an unprincipled politician does, by putting your finger in the air and seeing which way the wind is blowing or by looking at the latest polling results.

What kind of a message are we sending to young people about being brave when its top adult leaders don’t even have the courage to stand up to the pressure of a militant lobby when the bullies in Washington DC, Hollywood or even some of their own renegade councils start pressuring and harassing them?

Each and every one of the thousands of Scouting families that have supported and followed our movement must now make a very difficult decision. We respect the right for each parent and family to decide whether they will continue their membership in the Boy Scouts of American or not.

Many, like me and my family, cannot continue to support an organization more concerned with the intolerant demands of activists while compromising the safety and security of the young people they swore to serve. In July of last year, after a two year study from 2010 to 2012, the BSA’s eleven member task force unanimously concluded that their existing policy on this issue was “the absolute best policy for the Boy Scouts of America.” Suddenly, less than a year later, that is abruptly reversed.

We hoped to keep sex and politics out of Scouting. Now we grieve for those young boys who will not have the wonderful traditions and experiences that so many of us have had in Scouting.

Despite this setback, we will look to the future. I am pleased to announce that OnMyHonor.Net along with other likeminded organizations, parents and BSA members, are announcing a coalition meeting that will take place next month in Louisville, Kentucky. There we will discuss the creation of a new character development organization for boys. While the meeting will be private, your voice is very important to us and will be represented there. We will host and facilitate a national coalition meeting of former BSA parents and other youth leaders who wish to return to truly timeless values that once made the BSA great. We welcome your comments as we develop our plans. Please share your thoughts with us at [email protected]

We grieve today, not because we are faced with leaving Scouting, but because the Boy Scouts of America has left us. Its leadership has turned its back on 103 years of abiding by a mission to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices. Instead, it is embarking on a pathway of social experimentation that we believe will place at risk the very youth the organization is entrusted to serve, while rendering as hollow the tenets of the Scout Oath. Many of us find that unacceptable, and we have a desire to explore how we might serve families and young people at the highest standard originally intended by Scouting’s founder, Robert Baden-Powell.”

OnMyHonor.Net is the nationwide coalition of concerned parents, Scout Leaders, Scouting Donors, Eagle Scouts and other members of the BSA who are united in their support of Scouting’s timeless values and in their opposition to open homosexuality in the Boy Scouts. More information at www.OnMyHonor.Net.

For further information, please contact Jameson Cunningham or Dan Wilson with Shirley & Banister Public Affairs at (703) 739-5920 or (800) 536-5920.

http://www.onmyhonor.net/whats-next/


The BSA's membership resolution has passed with more than 60 percent of the vote.
Details here: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/05/23/bsa-membership-resolution-passes-with-more-than-60-percent-of-vote/

[Jolie Rouge]

Good Boy Scouts don't need God

by Tom Krattenmaker, USA TODAY

Published: 05/12/2013 04:47pm




Depending on what happens at the Boy Scouts' national meeting this month, gay Scouts might soon be accepted into the venerable organization. Even then, there will remain a large and growing group of Americans still barred by the Boy Scouts.

When will the Boy Scouts accept the non-religious?

The Boy Scouts of America recognizes an impressive range of religious affiliations that qualify one as "reverent" and, thus, eligible to participate. Two dozen varieties of Christianity get the nod, plus Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Bahai'ism and more. However, the non-religious are not welcome, and that poses a problem the Boy Scouts should address in addition to the sexual orientation question drawing so much attention.

Undergirding the Boy Scouts' ban is the dubious premise that people cannot be moral without religious belief. It's an assumption that non-believers are wisely challenging as the public face of atheism moves away from angry anti-religious diatribes, typified by the late Christopher Hitchens, toward a positive expression of non-belief summed up by the pithy phrase "good without God."

Can atheists be good Scouts? Neil Polzin's story suggests a resounding "yes." Polzin, now 29, contributed to a successful life-and-death rescue operation during a Boy Scouts backpacking trip when he was 13. He later became an Eagle Scout and an aquatics program director as an adult. In 2009, as he tells it, a rival who wanted his job made an issue of the fact that Polzin is an atheist. Hoping to clear the air, Polzin notified his regional council of his atheism — and was unceremoniously booted.

One would think that his long track record would have proved his skill and moral worthiness by that point. But all the years of good Scouting and service were erased by a single dreaded word: atheist.

Margaret Downey, president of the Freethought Society (and the mother of a young man who was barred from the Scouts as a boy), is leveraging the new focus on Boy Scout inclusion policies to prompt a fresh look at its ban on atheists. Downey welcomes the new momentum for inclusion of gay Scouts. Even so, she asks, why no consideration of non-believing boys, too? "There is no question that people can be good without a god belief," Downey says. The Boy Scouts offer a great program, she adds, "yet their bigoted membership policies are harmful."

Welcoming non-believers might seem a difficult bridge to cross for the Boy Scouts and traditionalists who defend current membership requirements. Wouldn't acceptance of atheists force revisions to the Boy Scout Oath, which pledges duty to God and country? Why should a private, voluntary organization have to do that, particularly when most Scout troops are chartered by churches?

These and other obstacles can be navigated through nuance, common sense and mutual respect. Let the churches that charter Scout troops adopt the attitude that churches usually adopt when it comes to non-believers: Welcome them in the hope of having a positive influence on them. Require atheist Scouts to respect the religion of their fellow Scouts, leaders and sponsors, with the assurance that their non-belief will be respected in kind. And, as Downey suggests, an additional "o" can go a long way; let the atheist Scout pledge his devotion to "good" rather than "God."

Ultimately, it would be self-defeating for the Boy Scouts to forfeit the chance to spread Scouting skills and values among the population of people who identify as atheist, agnostic, or otherwise not religious. More and more youths are growing up in non-religious homes; why would the organization squander the opportunity to serve and influence these boys?

Yes, as a private association, the Boy Scouts have a right to decide for themselves who's in and who's out. But just because they can exclude atheists doesn't mean they should.

"There are millions of young, secular Americans committed to civic duty, community service and personal improvement," says August Brunsman, executive director of the Secular Student Alliance. "They're looking to serve their country alongside their religious friends, and it's long past time for the Boy Scouts to wake up and let these admirable young men serve."

It's the right thing to do. And here's the bonus: Once the Boy Scouts open up to non-believers, they're going to discover they have a lot to contribute — just as they've been contributing all along.



http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2153827

[Jolie Rouge]

Thoughts on the Boy Scouts & gays
Posted by B. Daniel Blatt at 12:27 pm - May 23, 2013.

Those who have read my posts and considered my basic political philosophy can probably figure out my views on whether or not the Boy Scouts should admit openly gay youths — and scoutmasters.

As a private organization, they have the right to determine the qualifications for membership and leadership. The state should stay out of it. That said, I believe they should allow gay people to participate.

Now, to be sure, given the scandals in the Catholic Church (where most of the victims have been teenage boys), I can understand why they might be wary of having gay (male) scoutmasters. But, there are ways to screen their leaders to make sure they don’t bring on men who would abuse boys. Most (but alas not all) gay men would never even consider taking advantage of teenagers, particularly those in their charge.

That said, I just don’t get why they would bar lesbians from being scoutmasters. Lesbians tend not to be interested in boys and would not definitely molest them. Thus, I was struck earlier today when HotAir linked this New York Times story, featuring a picture of a mother ousted as a “scout leader because she is a lesbian.”

The leadership of the Boy Scouts should make the decision on allowing openly gay members and scoutmasters. And I would like to see them change their policy.

NB: I had been meaning to blog on this topic for some time, but keep putting it off as I would like to write a more comprehensive, insightful post. But, my time being limited, this short piece will have to suffice. For now.

http://www.gaypatriot.net/2013/05/23/thoughts-on-the-boy-scouts-gays/

[gmyers]

Whatever happened to the scandal that a lot of boy scouts were molested by scout masters? I haven't heard anything else about it. If its truie people are doing a lot to keep it quiet because they want to protect the boy scout organization. I thought it was pretty wide spread.

[Jolie Rouge]

When we joined BSA 12 years ago - they ran background checks on registered Leaders. Most of the complaints date back further then that - when the general attitude towards this type of thing was "don't ask - don't tell". Now - they run background checks on EVERYONE associated with the Units.... parents and anyone who signs up as "Akela" which is the person responible for that child.

I don't think that "gay" = pedaphile... but in a culture that encourages people to file a lawsuit every time they get their feelings hurt ... this is going to open up Charter Organizations to moral and legal liabilty

[Jolie Rouge]

Boy Scouts leaders vote to allow gay members
By Ryan Broussard Advocate staff writer May 23, 2013

The Boy Scouts of America’s National Council’s decision Thursday to allow gay members was met with mixed reaction in the Istrouma Area Council in Baton Rouge, with some leaders seeing the change as positive and others expecting drops in membership and financial support.

Eric Howell, chief executive officer of the Istrouma Area Council, attended a convention of about 1,400 council members in Grapevine, Texas.

The voting body passed a resolution to open the group’s ranks to gay Scouts — but not gay Scout leaders — with the changes scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1.

Howell said an independent company tabulated Thursday’s votes and about 61 percent of the members voted “yes” to pass the resolution, based on what he heard.

The four members of the Istrouma Area Council, which covers 13 parishes in Louisiana and one county in Mississippi, voted “no,” which Howell said was in line with the opinions of the stakeholders the group serves.

“The stakeholders had the opportunity to voice their opinion, and we were there to listen,” Howell said.

The Istrouma Area Council held several meetings with parents and Scouts in the past several months and Howell said the resounding tenor was that the stakeholders opposed the change.

Although the group voted against the policy change, Howell said, the group will abide by it.

“While people have different opinions about this policy, we can all agree that kids are better off when they are in Scouting,” the BSA said after announcing the results.

e_SDLqThe Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue.”

However, the outcome will not end the bitter debate over the Scouts’ membership policy.

Liberal Scout leaders — while supporting the proposal to accept gay youth — have made clear they want the ban on gay adults lifted as well.

In contrast, conservatives with the Scouts — including some churches that sponsor Scout units — wanted to continue excluding gay youths, in some cases threatening to defect if the ban were lifted.

“We are deeply saddened,” said Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee after learning of the result. “Homosexual behavior is incompatible with the principles enshrined in the Scout oath and Scout law.”

Steve Beatty, troopmaster of Troop 478, which operates within the Istrouma Area Council, said the BSA executive committee’s initial proposal in January centered on allowing the local organizations sponsoring the troops, like churches and civic groups, to determine if homosexual members and leaders could join.

The initial plan won little praise, and the BSA changed course after assessing responses to surveys sent out starting in February to the Scouting community.

Of the more than 200,000 leaders, parents and youth members who responded, 61 percent supported the current policy of excluding gays, while 34 percent opposed it. However, most parents of young Scouts, as well as youth members themselves, opposed the ban.

“I know of at least one troop that said they will disband,” Beatty said, but declined to name the troop.

While Beatty said he personally opposes anything that causes fewer people to be involved in Scouting, which he thinks will happen with the new policy, he favors something opening the door to allow more people to be involved.

“I’m not opposed to the policy, I’m opposed to the result,” he said. “It’s not an issue that we as scouts should be dealing with.”

“For me, if it’s one Scout leaving, it’s noteworthy,” Beatty said. “To have one boy not have the benefit of the Scouting program is a loss.”

The BSA’s overall “traditional youth membership” — Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturers — is now about 2.6 million, compared with more than 4 million in peak years of the past. It also has about 1 million adult leaders and volunteers.

Jeff Wittenbrink, a leader in the Istrouma Area Council who has been involved with Scouting for 11 years, echoed Beatty’s statement that people will leave and has been vocal in his opposition to the change.

“You’re going to see a lot of Scout parents voting with their feet,” he said. “If you would ask the Scout parents to vote, it would have been a completely different thing.”

He said the National Council’s voting members know the ramifications of the vote and the subsequent changes, but they don’t care.

Cathie Louis, council advancement chairman and an Istrouma Area Council board member, said for years the Scouts instituted a culture of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” similar to the U.S. military’s old policy for gay servicemen and women and that there have been gay members in Scouting for years.

“My hope is that a lot of boys will be taken into other units if their church or troop dissolves because of this,” she said.

Of the more than 100,000 Scouting units in the United States, 70 percent are chartered by religious institutions.

Those include liberal churches opposed to any ban on gays, but some of the largest sponsors are relatively conservative denominations that have previously supported the broad ban — notably the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Southern Baptist churches.

The BSA, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010, has long excluded both gays and atheists.

Protests over the no-gays policy gained momentum in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the BSA’s right to exclude gays. Scout units lost sponsorships by public schools and other entities that adhered to nondiscrimination policies, and several local Scout councils made public their displeasure with the policy.

http://theadvocate.com/home/6060794-125/boy-scouts-leaders-vote-to

[Jolie Rouge]

Commentary: An Open Letter to Southern Baptists [i]
May 24, 2013 - By R. Chip Turner

R. Chip Turner, chairman of the BSA Religious Relationships Task Force and past president of the Association of Baptists for Scouting, released this open letter after the Boy Scouts of America voted to end denying membership to boys on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Results of the much-publicized vote at the 2013 national meeting of the Boy Scouts of America were announced May 23. Understandably, this was not what many Baptist denominations and others wanted to see transpire.

R. Chip Turner Now what? Before deciding, I urge you to prayerfully consider the following:

* Are the evangelism and family ministry opportunities now lessened in the church's Scout unit(s)? Are the lost and un-enlisted any less our responsibility now? I respectfully remind us that the Great Commission remains unchanged and no vote can alter this reality.

Still 'fishers of men'

The local church still owns its Scout units and is responsible for selecting the leadership. As “fishers of men,” are we not to go where the fish are located? In the case of church-based Scout units, there are unreached people already in your buildings!

* Are our churches being compelled to accept homosexual leaders or the homosexual lifestyle? No. fact, it remains the responsibility of our churches to hold high a standard. The resolution clearly states that “youth are still developing, learning about themselves and who they are, developing their sense of right and wrong, and understanding their duty to God to live a moral life.” Shouldn’t Baptists be at the forefront in helping youth find answers which are biblically-based?

[I]Behavior standard still in place

Keep in mind. Too, that there are a number of membership requirements which must still be met, including affirming the declaration of religious principle, doing one’s “duty to God, and adhering to the principles of the Scout Oath and Law. In addition, a behavior standard is being set forth which disallows sexual behavior of any kind in Scouting.

Do our churches routinely exclude persons from our other evangelism and outreach efforts or do we seek to reach them where they are with the Good News and help them discover The Way?

* Do we surrender the opportunity of involving children, youth, and families in the Religious Emblems Program which is an effective tool for reaching Scouts (and entire families) for Christ, discipling them, and helping many clarify their call to vocational Christian service? I pray not!

* Does it really matter whether or not Baptists are involved in Scouting? First, the obvious answer is "yes" for every Scout, family, and leader in Baptist units. Second, there are tens of thousands of Baptist Scouts and thousands of Baptist Scout leaders involved in Scouting who are not in Baptist units and we should be serving them, too. [The third largest group of Scouts and leaders at the 2013 National Jamboree will be Baptist.]

* Why not invest our outreach ministry and energies elsewhere? Obviously, you can. But why does it have to be an “either/or” situation?

Reaching the unreached

There are many fine children and youth programs in our churches which primarily address those already in the church family. However, what about the unchurched and unreached? Plus, consider the people in your church family who are better members, parents, leaders, and citizens because they had the Scouting experience delivered by godly men and women.

Dare we deprive our children and grandchildren of this same life-changing experience? Do we surrender this precious opportunity to others who may not share our values. Shall we abandon an organization which needs our influence now more than ever? Future generations hang in the balance.

The Lord of the Harvest stands ready to help us, guide us, encourage us, empower us, and equip us to reap an abundant ingathering.

http://www.baptiststandard.com/opinion/other/15112-commentary-an-open-letter-to-southern-baptists#.UaOfAUd0BpA.facebook

[Jolie Rouge]

To God and My Country: Why We're Not Quitting Scouts
Todd Aglialoro ~ May 27, 2013

On the wall next to my desk is a small framed piece of calligraphy, a gift from a friend with a talented hand, with this passage from Psalm 127:


Lo, sons are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons of one's youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them!

He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

The occasion of the gift was the birth of my second male child, and it was not just commemorative but prophetic, for since then God has graced us with three more “arrows” for a total of five sons (part of a set with two tough daughters). Accordingly, my house throbs with “boy energy”—as one tactful relative, whose quiet and immaculate home contains three quiet and immaculate girls, once put it instead of saying “dirt, farts, and explosion sounds.”

Boy energy naturally seeks out boy activity, and along with sports, Legos, and poking dead things with a stick, in my family as in many others that has meant the Boy Scouts of America. We've been involved with the BSA for over a decade, and although the cost in time—driving, volunteering, training, activi-tating—has been sometimes onerous, we've stuck with it because we admire scouting's core values and want our sons to enjoy and learn from them. On top of that, belonging to a parish-sponsored pack or troop adds a Catholic component to scouting's basic pledge to honor God. Scout Masses and prayers, medal programs such as Parvuli Dei and Ad Altare Dei, and volunteerism that emphasizes the corporal works of mercy all make scouting a harmonious meeting place for God and Country, supernatural and natural.

Among Catholic fathers I wasn't alone, then, in holding my breath while the BSA recently revisited its longstanding policy of excluding avowed homosexual scouts and scout leaders. The radical-feminist cookie cult also known as the Girl Scouts was already a lost cause—were we going to be forced, as a matter of conscience or prudence or both, to part ways with the Boy Scouts, too?

Well, after the BSA revealed its half-a-loaf solution last Friday (that being the traditional time to announce something you want buried, and this before a holiday weekend to boot), lifting the ban on homosexual scouts but maintaining the ban on homosexual leaders and reiterating its principle that youth sexual activity of any sort is contrary to Scout values... I don't know that the answer is clear.

For some it certainly is. The Catholic blogosphere and social media circles have been alight with criticism of the BSA's “cave,” and with vows to quit scouting or to start alternative Catholic scout groups. The main critiques can be categorized as follows:


The BSA betrayed its identity by caving to homosexualist pressure.

Openly, “avowedly” homosexual scouts constitute a physical and moral danger to other boys in intimate quarters.

This capitulation is but the start of things to come, with gay activists banging the drums even louder now for the BSA to admit homosexual leaders too, and atheist groups now emboldened in their fight to eliminate belief in God as a membership requirement.

These are all compelling arguments. As regards the first, I have sympathy for the BSA: We have all seen how, seemingly overnight, approval of homosexuality and same-sex marriage has gone from far-out minority notion to litmus test for participation in civil society. Gay activism is ruthless, and with lawsuits piling up, corporate sponsors bailing, and politicians flapping their gums and rattling their fountain pens, one can't readily blame national Scout leadership for trying to navigate a middle course here. I won't condemn them for failing to muster extraordinary moral courage.

I agree that, everything else being equal, young boys are in greater danger of sexual predation while camping or hiking with scouts who are sexually attracted to other boys than with those who are not. (This seems so abundantly obvious, even before considering whether boys suffering from the disorder of same-sex attraction are also more likely to engage in aggressive sexual behavior, that it's nothing short of astounding how we have decided that this concern is in fact a symptom of bigoted hysteria and thus Shall Not Be Addressed.) That said, it seems to me that we parents can screen for this problem ourselves. There may well come a time when it will be a hate crime to remove our sons from a Scout pack or troop because it contains an avowed homosexual, but until such a time we can protect our sons that way.

We can exercise similar prudence in watching for the slippery slope. Maybe the BSA has opened the door to its self-destruction, or maybe it's just cutting off a limb to save the body. One thing I can say for sure: If good Christian families abandon scouting now, the slippery slope is more likely to come to pass. If we stay, then maybe we can provide the moral energy, and the affirmation of scouting principles, needed to fight off future challenges.

I will add that it's disheartening how in issuing its decision the BSA has tacitly affirmed a tenet of gay activism: that even young teen or pre-teen boys can have a “homosexual orientation” that's an objective personal datum, like being brown-eyed or German-Irish. Rather than challenge this semantic construct, the Boy Scouts have played right into it—and so played right into the stealth (or not so stealth) movements to criminalize reparative therapy, establish “sexual rights” for children over and against their parents' will, and weaken age of consent laws.

To cement their cultural victory, gay activists must a) eliminate—by convincing or coercion—all doubt in the popular consciousness that homosexuality is a natural inborn trait, and b) foster conditions that mitigate or even reverse the age-old cultural forces that steer adolescents towards sexual normalcy, creating instead environments maximally supportive of sexual experimentation and “coming out.” Sadly, the language of the BSA announcement unwittingly plays right into both of those aims.

But at this time I'm still intent on sticking with the Scouts, on believing that this was a calculated evasive maneuver and not an indicator of an ideological sea change. Since the only way to preserve Boy Scout principles is to fight for them, I'm not yet ready to take my arrows and quiver and go home.

http://www.catholic.com/blog/todd-aglialoro/to-god-and-my-country-why-were-not-quitting-scouts

[Jolie Rouge]

New Documents Detail History of Boy Scout Abuse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcF79BXFNZg
Published on Oct 18, 2012

The Boy Scouts of America have released nearly a decade of confidential files never before made public. The Scouts kept track of suspected pedophiles they banned from their ranks, but kept the list secret until now


This is enough to make your blood boil. And as if allowing "open and avowed homosexual" Boy Scouts will make this situation better.

[Jolie Rouge]

Penn and Teller - Boy Scouts (Full Episode) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndoP1YW72Zk

[Jolie Rouge]

Kentucky church is dropping its scouting program
Mark Boxley, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal10:16 p.m. EDT May 27, 2013

Mega-church's action linked in part to Scouting's decision to allow openly gay youths in troops.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An evangelical Christian church here with more than 30,000 members will break ties with the Boy Scouts of America because it believes the youth organization has become too polarizing, its executive pastor said.

The Boy Scouts' national council voted last week to allow openly gay youth but maintained its ban on gay leaders.

Tim Hester, executive pastor of Southeast Christian Church, said the youth organization's consideration of that issue started the discussion that eventually led to the church's board of elders deciding against renewing the church's charter with Troop 212, but it wasn't the deciding issue.

The charter was going to be broken regardless of the Boy Scout vote, he said.

"Truly for us it's a logical decision," he said. "We cannot be distracted from the mission God has called us to."

The Scouts have until the end of the year to relocate.

Barry Oxley, chief executive of the Boy Scouts' Lincoln Heritage Council, said Southeast Christian had notified the council earlier this year that scouting would not be offered on its campus in 2014.

He said the Boy Scouts are working to identify a new organization to charter Troop 212 and its affiliated Cub Scout pack. He said about 300 families participate in scouting in the two groups at Southeast Christian.

"Our focus is helping youth grow into young people of character and integrity through a program of fun and adventure," Oxley said.

Hester said Troop 212 leaders approached Southeast Christian, which in 2011 was listed as the fourth-largest congregation in the nation in a survey from Outreach magazine, when the gay vote issue first came up.

While the vote was the catalyst, it wasn't the only issue, he said. Rather, it was the Boy Scouts' direction and the desire to keep the church from getting caught up in it.

"We want everyone, including ourselves, to live by biblical standards," Hester said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/27/kentucky-christian-church-no-scouts/2364641/

[justice250]

Our church is no longer supporting the Boy Scouts now. Is this the case for everyone else?

[Jolie Rouge]

Methodist Minister Conference meets in June - this is up for discussion. If the United Methodists rejects our Charter then it will affect our Troop ( continuous for 78 years ) and our Pack ( continuous for 42 years ); will also affect most of our Venture Crews. I know the Pastor of one of the local Catholic Churches said he wasn't waiting on a ruling from the Dioceses - he has already terminated the Charter at "his" Church - closing a Troop that has met there continually for 63 years. :( Their Troop will meet with our Troop ( same night short distance) - we will let them have a room in our "Scout Hut" for the summer until the PTB deciede our fates.

[Jolie Rouge]

The American Heritage Girls have formally ended their involvement with the BSA due to its new membership standards. Click below for the full statement they released following the resolution.

http://www.onmyhonor.net/2013/05/28/american-heritage-girls-end-involvement-with-bsa/

[pepperpot]

Don't ask, don't tell....scouts (BSA) has no place in sexual discussions or activities. Sexual orientation should not be on their agenda....boys & leaders...approved curriculum. Period.

[Jolie Rouge]

Don't ask, don't tell....scouts (BSA) has no place in sexual discussions or activities. Sexual orientation should not be on their agenda....boys & leaders...approved curriculum. Period.

THANK YOU !


I keep having this conversation ... I am not a "hater" ... sexuality should be irrelevant ... everything is over sexualized ... can't the kids just have this ??

[Jolie Rouge]

Indeed, proponents of gay-friendly scouting, the very activists whose demands the present compromise is meant to satisfy, have already proclaimed that the fight will go on: The next goal is to open the Scouts to openly homosexual Scout leaders.

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/05/10237/

As I said before, and the BSA no longer have the "right" to deny entry because their standing was allowing openly gay members was against the oath/law/promise. Now that they have gone against our own oath/law/promise, they no longer have a stand (now it is just discrimination).

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IF our membership quits and walks away from BSA, I am disappointed though that the finest most patriotic group of individuals I have ever known might walk away without using the citizenship training and leadership training we have taught boys for the past 100 years. FIGHT! If you walk away now the greatest youth organization we have ever had will become what you fear it will. I want to know if Stimulus Dollars went to AT&t and created an improper relationship for the New head of the Boy Scouts , did that influence the vote , were we bought with our own tax dollars? The acting Commisioner of the IRS who was put in charge of investigating impropriety in the Tea party groups is THE SAME GUY that would have controlled AT&Ts tax benefits. I am not an Eagle Scout but surely there is someone in this organization that is willing to make some calls and do some research and call Issa or your congressman and see if the Democratic Party just bought the leading youth organization in the nation with one secret ballot.

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Way to go BSA. You've compromised your principles to gain a minority, and to lose a majority. And I guess making rules without representation doesn't apply to BSA like it does Congress. I'd like to know who voted for me. They sure didn't follow my views.

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Our troop in NE Ohio is chartered by a baptist church. Thy have informed us that they likely will sever ties at the end of 2013 because of the change in policy. We would have to find another organization willing to charter us. Thats going to a huge problem for numbers of troops. Previously we were chartered through a local school but due to funding we could no longer use the building in the evenings.

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One thing the BSA forgets. The Charter organizations own the Troops. We are seeing record number of charter organization dropping Boy Scout Troops. May 23...Sad day in the 103 year history

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Indeed a sad day.... From winning a court case to stand by its then "principles" to selling their soul.....what a flip flop...... FAIL

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January 1st...... If you read the membership proposal that was passed anyone can join after 1/1/14. As long as they agree with "Duty to God".

For now......

...

If you give a mouse a cookie...

[Jolie Rouge]

OK, lets see if the National BSA Key Three-- will pull their charter and enforce the rules like they said they would....

"Boy Scouts defy orders, wear uniforms in Utah gay pride parade"
By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130602-parade3-hmed-12p.photoblog600.jpg

Boy Scouts and adult volunteers wore their uniforms Sunday as they marched in Utah's gay pride parade — defying a leader of the youth organization who had said they couldn't do so under the organization's guidelines prohibiting advocating political or social positions.

The Utah Pride Festival Parade came a little more than a week after national delegates of the Boy Scouts of America approved allowing gay youth to join, ending controversial membership guidelines that had in recent years dogged one of the nation's most popular organizations for children and teens. "It just feels like the right thing to do," Kenji Mikesell, an 18-year-old Eagle Scout and high school senior still active with his troop, said before leaving for the parade in Salt Lake City in his uniform.

"It's kind of a way of saying we want you here,” added Mikesell, who marched with Mormons Building Bridges and whose troop is chartered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Scouting has been a very positive influence in my life, and I'd like to see more people take advantage of it now that the ban has been lifted.”

Peter Brownstein, a Scoutmaster in Salt Lake City who helped organize the Boy Scouts participation in the march, said a few adults and youth marched at the front of the parade in uniform, including a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout and his stepdad, an Eagle Scout, who borrowed a uniform to wear, and an Asst. Scoutmaster.

But a local leader of the Boy Scouts had said Friday that they were prohibited from doing so. "We as a Scouting movement do not advocate any social or political position, so I reminded Mr. Brownstein that we do not wear uniforms at an event like this," said Rick Barnes, chief scout executive of the Great Salt Lake Council, which consists of more than 75,000 youth. "We do not, as Boy Scouts, show support for any social or political position. We're neutral. If he wants to attend the parade and others do that are Scouts or Scouters, they're welcome to do so as private citizens wearing whatever they want except their uniform.

“That's our official position. It always has been, there's nothing new here," he added. "We just don't want people to use the Boy Scouts to advocate their positions."

It wasn't clear what the consequences of wearing their uniforms would be. In a statement, Deron Smith, a spokesman for the national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America, said it was up to the local council to determine any punishment.

"These individuals stated a personal opinion and do not represent Scouting," said Smith. "Scouting teaches young people that often in life one finds rules they don’t agree with, but a Scout is to be obedient. To simply disobey a rule because you disagree with it is not an example to set for youth. It is up to each council to determine how best to hold their leaders to the standards of Scouting. We will support the Greater Salt Lake Area Council as they determine the appropriate response."

Barnes said Sunday he had nothing to add to the statement from Smith. On Friday, he said he expected the group to comply, citing the part of the Scout Oath that says a Scout is trustworthy.

Mikesell said he wasn't worried about any consequences. But Brownstein did not wear his uniform and instead opted for a T-shirt that carried the message of inclusive Scouting, with a rainbow square knot on it. His son, an Eagle Scout, and another Scout wore shirts promoting allowing gays in Scouting (LGBT adults are not allowed to join the program).

Brownstein, 53, said it was a disappointment that he couldn't wear his uniform. "We're just trying to demonstrate that Scouts can be a part of all parts of society, all parts of life," he said before the parade. "While I am not wearing my uniform, other people will be. And this is not about me, this is about getting the message out to America" of "inclusiveness in Scouting, the need for equality."

After the march, he noted: “It felt awesome to proudly represent an organization that is making progress towards change and acceptance … and slowly making progress on opening their organization to many more people who can benefit from the wonderful program."

"And the progress forward will continue,” he added.

Scouts for Equality, a group that campaigns for the LGBT community to be welcomed in Scouting, had said that members of the Boy Scouts have previously marched in pride parades elsewhere. But they called for youth and adults in the Utah Scouting program to abide by Barnes' call and not wear their formal uniforms in the parade.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/02/18699493-boy-scouts-defy-orders-wear-uniforms-in-utah-gay-pride-parade

[Jolie Rouge]

Scouts appease atheists with new Godless promise
The Scout Association is expected to announce the wording for the new 'atheist' promise in the Autumn, at the earliest.
Scout Association amends vow to God in bid to appease atheists and other secular humanists
God and country ditched in Guides and Brownies’ promise
Scouts may introduce atheist promise, after 105 years
Fri, 28 Jun 2013

The Scout Association is to offer the option of a new “atheist” promise for the first time in its 105-year history, according to a national newspaper. The Sunday Telegraph has learned that the movement will introduce an optional oath which has no reference to God, after mounting pressure from atheists.

The Scouting movement was founded by Lord Baden-Powell on Christian principles in 1908.

Duty

Currently, Scouts must promise to “do my duty to God” and those of other faiths use alternative wording. The original promise will remain for believers.

The introduction of a separate oath follows a consultation of 15,000 people.

This comes as the Girl Guides recently dropped any reference to God in their oath, in a move criticised for pandering to individualism and secular humanist ideas.

Beliefs

Now the Guides’ promise will see girls pledging to be “true to myself and develop my beliefs”.

New wording for the Scouts promise will be devised by trustees of the association and approved by the entire movement before it is expected to be announced later this year. Simon Carter, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications for the Association, said “the direction of travel is clear”, despite there being some way to go before the wording is finalised.

Contrast

The new promise comes in stark contrast to the views of the movement’s founder, Lord Baden-Powell. He ranked atheism alongside gambling, swearing and drunkenness in a handbook for boys.

More than 100 years ago, Lord Baden-Powell wrote “Rovering for Success”, in which he said: “If you are really to make your way to success – ie happiness – you must not only avoid being sucked in by irreligious humbugs, but you must have a religious basis to your life”.

http://www.christian.org.uk/news/scouts-appease-atheists-with-new-godless-promise/?e280613

[Jolie Rouge]

Damed if we do - damed if we don't.... :rolleyes: don't you love this "unbiased" headline ...

At Least They Got This One Right: Boy Scouts Introduce Sustainability Badge
By Anna Hess | Takepart.com 4 hours ago

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) aren’t typically characterized as being the most liberally minded organization. But this month, the 2.7 million-member youth group launched a new eco-conscious initiative that we're convinced would make Arctic polar bears do the happy dance—they're adding "sustainability" to the Scout merit badge cache.

Its requirements address five areas of good ol' green living: water, food, energy, community and "stuff" (figuring out what one's family doesn't need, and then making arrangements for repurposing and recycling).

The initiative is not just for show, either. The required tasks include strict implementation of a detailed, month-long water usage plan after studying water billing statements and designing an entire sustainable city after assessing current housing needs.

This eco-centric effort is not the first time the BSA has faced a 21st-century issue head-on.

On May 23, the BSA's National Council voted that leaders could no longer deny young boys membership based on sexual orientation alone. However, the National Council let a discriminatory clause live on in the membership policy of adult leaders.

While we here at TakePart HQ love the BSA's green move, others didn't—and they let their discontent be known in comments on a recent Scouting magazine post announcing the new badge. There, some commenters referred to the badge as "Liberal Agenda Merit Badge" or as "propaganda." Others declared that sustainability is the "U.N. Agenda 21's system to global control and one world government" or that it "eliminates the free choice of people." One commenter even wrote this: "Climate change is a discredited theory that has no place in the Boy Scout program."

In the name of progress of all colors and stripes, listen up, Boy Scouts: We'll see your green badge and raise you one rainbow one.

http://news.yahoo.com/least-got-one-boy-scouts-introduce-sustainability-badge-225122187.html

comments

BSA has long preached conservation, leave no trace, etc. Their offering a sustainability merit badge shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

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"The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) aren’t typically characterized as being the most liberally minded organization."

Media can't resist getting a jab in. This article had more then one ...

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"At Least They Got This One Right" ???????? What a crummy headline. The Boy Scouts get a lot of things right. And, Anna Hess, I doubt you know much about the Boy Scouts.

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The BSA have always given awards for conservation projects. The many merit badges teach self reliance, environment facts, and sustainability. It is sad that BSA has been forced into the political arena when it's about raising healthy educated youth to be leaders and not a bunch of liberal :sheep:

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The Boy Scouts that I belonged to was always "green minded" before green was chic. We were always taught to respect the enviornment and be conservative in the use of natural resources.

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I'm sorry, is this a pro or anti scout article? Your excellent journalism skills prevent me from seeing your bias. ( sarcasm off )

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Hold the hurrahs-----When my son was in scouting in Toledo, Ohio., he designed a recycling project. He spent countless hours arranging for 55 gallon cardboard barrels. He and friends cleaned and painted the barrels and made signs for CANS - PLASTIC - GLASS. They placed them at all exits from the cafeteria, gymnasium and outside the school entrances. They even had monthly suppleis of large plastic liners promised by a local supply company. Wonderfull project; the barrels were full the first day. The arranged for dumpsters, also donated, were ready in the rear of the school.

Then reality set in: Remember I mentioned Toledo...you know, Democrat Unions. The union janitors refused to pull the plastic bags out of the barrels & replace them..."it wasn't in their contract".... then the barrels "mysteriously disappeared"

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Maybe not 'liberal', but certainly environmental, nature and outdoor oriented. Or are you 'liberals' still hung up on the Clean, Reverent and Morally Straight aspects?

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Hey Anna, why should the boy scouts be liberal "anything"? Why can't they just be kids? Conservation has always been part of the boy scout way.

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Polar bears are not endangered. Why would they care?

[Jolie Rouge]

Disney to pull Boy Scouts funding by 2015 over policy banning gay leaders
By Devon M. Sayers, CNN updated 1:49 PM EST, Sat March 1, 2014

(CNN) -- The Walt Disney Company has given notice to the Boy Scouts of America that it will pull all funding to the group starting in 2015 because of a BSA membership policy that bans gay leaders, the entertainment company said Friday.

Disney does not give money directly to the national organization or local BSA councils. However, through its VoluntEARS program, Disney allows employees to do volunteer work in exchange for cash donations to the charities of their choice.

Employees taking part in the VoluntEARS program will no longer be able to submit the funds to the Boy Scouts, the organization said. The new policy will not affect Walt Disney employees who volunteer with the Scouts, the company said. "We believe every child deserves the opportunity to be a part of the Scouting experience, and we are disappointed in this decision because it will impact our ability to serve kids," BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement. "America's youth need Scouting, and by continuing to focus on the goals that unite us, we continue to accomplish incredible things for young people and the communities we serve."

Though the Boy Scouts voted last year to allow gay youths to join its ranks, the group maintains a ban on gay Scout leaders.

According to Disney's charitable giving guidelines, groups become ineligible to receive Disney funding if they "discriminate in the provision of services unlawfully or in a manner inconsistent with Disney's policies on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, marital status, mental or physical ability, or sexual orientation."

Disney would not divulge its formula for converting volunteer hours to dollars, but a chart on Disney's corporate website shows that in 2010, employees raised $4.8 million via 548,000 volunteer hours, which works out to $8.79 an hour. Among the events for which employees volunteered were a triathlon for Children's Hospital Los Angeles, the Revlon Run-Walk for cancer, Children's Hospital of Orange County Walk at Disneyland Resort and the Champion 5K at ESPN for the V Foundation, according to Disney.

Deena Fidas, the director of workplace equality for the Human Rights Campaign, said Disney's decision "carries a unique weight. When you think about brands that exemplify childhood, you think of Disney, and with them dissociating with BSA, it speaks volumes of where we are with the views we want to send to young people."

In a recent report, HRC cited numerous victories in its quest to ensure workplace equality and applauded the majority of Fortune 500 companies that now offer sexual-orientation and gender-identity protections to their employees. Despite that, "we know that over 50% of (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) employees remain closeted on the job," the report said.

On Thursday, Scouts for Equality, which says it works to end discrimination within the BSA, praised Walt Disney World for ending local support for the BSA's Central Florida Council. "We're never happy to see Scouting suffer as a result of the BSA's anti-gay policy, but Disney made the right decision to withhold support until Scouting is fully inclusive," Eagle Scout and Scouts for Equality co-founder Zach Wahls said in a statement.

Scouts for Equality says Disney joins Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Major League Soccer, Merck, Intel and UPS as companies who have ended partnerships with the Scouts because of its policy. Fidas said Alcoa and AT&T are also on that list.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/us/disney-pulls-boy-scouts-funding/index.html?sr=fb010114boyscoutsdisney11a

[Jolie Rouge]

Eric Holder Slams Boy Scouts as Bigots
June 11, 2014 By Greg Campbell

The Boy Scouts of America are a bunch of homophobic bigots, according to Attorney General Eric Holder. The scandal-ridden Attorney General who has routinely advocated lawlessness as a remedy to perceived social injustice lashed out the Boy Scouts of America for their unwillingness to allow homosexual scout masters.

On Tuesday, Holder addressed a homosexual advocacy group, Lambda Legal, and claimed that the institution is being bigoted in their continuation of the policy banning homosexual scout masters. The ban, Holder said, “perpetuates the worst kind of stereotypes” about homosexuals.

Holder hailed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military’s ban on open homosexuals serving in the military, and claimed that the repeal allowed the service of “courageous lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals routinely put their lives on the line.”

“If these men and women are fit for military service, then surely they are fit to mentor, to teach, and to serve as role models for the leaders of future generations,” Holder continued.

Of course, there is a significant difference: in the military, a homosexual officer could be in charge of an adult man or woman; in the Boy Scouts, if the ban were to be lifted, parents would be asked to entrust their children on overnight camp-outs and other assorted away-from-home activities with someone who could take advantage of such a position.

Consider this: why are Girl Scout troops not sent into the woods with adult males? It’s for the aforementioned reason. We do not inherently suspect all adults of being perverts, but we try to refrain from putting children into a position where children can be abused. This ban is a continuation of that common-sense approach to child safety. Are we supposed to suspend our sense of logic and potentially endanger our youths simply because not doing so is now considered politically incorrect?

Holder lashed out again at the Boy Scouts, claiming that the institution is “an iconic American institution,” also claiming that their ban on openly homosexual scoutmasters is “a relic of an age of prejudice and insufficient understanding.”

Holder might call it “prejudice;” others would call it “common sense.”

http://www.tpnn.com/2014/06/11/eric-holder-slams-boy-scouts-as-bigots/