A scout is…

Tolerant!

Or ought to be.

Despite national policy banning gays, the largest Boy Scout group in Minnesota will stay inclusive

Back in 2000, when the Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts could continue discriminating against gay people, Young Ken Mannion had just started Cub Scouts and I’d signed on as den leader.  At the first pack meeting after the ruling, I proposed that our pack defy the Boy Scouts and welcome anyone with a son or male child they were guardian of who wanted to join.  “We need all the help we can get,” I said.  I’m not sure how many of the parents knew what I was talking about.  I’m pretty sure at least one of the fathers who did wanted to tell me to take a hike without any scouts.  But my proposal passed unanimously.

In the years we were part of that pack, it never became an issue.  Few boys in the parish signed up.  Few of the parents of the few who did volunteered to be leaders or even help out with the Blue and Gold dinners.

There were several reasons for this, but I think the main was that two of the mothers who were leaders of one of the dens got into a fistfight at one of the den meetings.

After we moved to this area, Ken and Oliver joined the Cub Scouts here. I continued an assistant den leader. But I didn’t raise the issue again.  The fact is, I didn’t think to.  In the years between, it sort of went away or at least it didn’t come back to my attention.  I’m pretty sure one of the fathers who was a den leader here was gay and if anybody had made a fuss about it I’d have stood up for him but no one did.  No one ever mentioned it. 

When they finished with Cub Scouts, each having made it all the way through Weblos II, neither Ken nor Oliver want to move on to Boy Scouts.  They had too much else on their plates by that point.  And when they left Scouting, I left it too.  And over the years the whole experience has moved farther and farther towards the back of my mind.  I’ve hardly given it any thought.  So I was startled yesterday when the news broke that the Scouts had reaffirmed their commitment to discrimination.

I think somewhere along the line I’d gotten it into my head that the Scouts had adopted their own form of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Actually, what startled me was the way I got the news, via a liberal mother’s angry declaration on Twitter that no good liberals should allow their sons to participate in Scouting.

My immediate reaction was They’re still at it?  But right away I moved to challenging the mother. No, that’s the wrong way to go about this.  That’s leaving the field to the bigots.  The best way to challenge this and change things is from within.  It’s easy enough for the Scouts to boot an individual scoutmaster or scout.  It’s something else when they have to boot an entire troop.

I was pleased to read this in this story:

The announcement suggests that hurdles may be high for a couple of members of the national executive board — Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson — who have recently indicated they would try to work from within to change the policy. Both of their companies have been commended by gay-rights groups for gay-friendly employment policies.

Stephenson is on track to become president of the Scouts' national board in 2014 and will likely face continued pressure from gay-rights groups.

Good for Turley and Stephenson!  And good luck to them!

I like Scouting. I think it’s good for kids. It teaches liberal values like community service, environmental stewardship, and---despite itself---tolerance.  It also rewards kids for real achievements that don’t have anything to do with how well they perform on a football field or a basketball court or in a classroom.  Not every kid can score touchdowns at will or solve differential equations.  But they can learn how to sew on a button, make pancakes, treat a burn, read a map, stand up for others, help a stranger, be kind.

More from Chris Geidner at BuzzFeed.

Comments

[Mark]

I cannot for the life of me figure out why the Boy Scouts would want to exclude gay boys. Do they think their own kids have the same sexual hangups that they do, or do they hope to instill those prejudices in their kids?

[El Jefe]

Mark,

Always vote for your second choice there when parsing that logic.

Lance,

The last graf is one of your strongest wrap-ups, period. Keilloresque rhythm and your voice. Nice one. Also quite true. Two of the fiercest liberals I know -- my father and his best friend (the latter a good Irish-Catholic kid in the unlikely locale of Jacksonville, FL) -- were Eagle Scouts. My preferred idea of camping is the first floor of the hotel, but I'm grateful for the two of them daily.

[Lance Mannion]

Thanks, Jefe.

Mark, remember, a kid can stay in the Scouts through high school and the older Scouts are expected to act as leaders to the younger ones, so their discrimination against gay Scouts is tied to their fear of gay scoutmasters. I think they know that not all gay men are molesters, but they definitely believe all men who prey on boys are gay. The Jerry Sandusky case and in fact the Scouts' own files show otherwise, but scapegoating single gay men is easier than going after married men with children who have everyone around them convinced they're great guys. A lot of this is driven by the need to assure parents that they're kids are being kept safe. So this goes beyond the Scouts. It's a reaction to conservative communities feelings and fears about homosexuality. Actually, about sexuality, period. We are a very mixed up country.

[Belvoir]

I loved being a Cub Scout and a Webelo (and an altar boy). But by the time I was a young teen, the idea of being a Boy Scout was just.. uncool. It's not 1910 anymore. And it's true they impart good community values Lance, but they're not the only ones. I don't blame teens for not being interested in 2012. It's a very outmoded thing- when the Scouts started, people lived reasonably close to woods, wilderness, parkland. I think that's sadly far less the case now.

And as a gay person, I'll put on my contrarian hat and say: let them discriminate. Their right, their loss. I'm super-uncomfortable with the idea of vetting teenagers about their sexuality, it kind of appalls me- leave them alone. It shouldn't be an issue. As for adult scoutmasters who are gay, well I think, do something else. Sorry, there's lots of other things to do, and even though they are vastly well-meaning, you're scaring the horses. Just don't get involved in unpaid positions camping with teenaged boys, you know? Get a life. I know that sounds bitchy and cruel, but really, get out of a system that doesn't want you.

Like the Olympics, the Boy Scouts are a 20th century invention that we somehow all were meant to feel reverence for, as if they were eternal, ancient respect-worthy things. They're not, really. Though a lot of good has come from them. Not knocking the Boy Scouts really- just that it's an antiquated thing, and teenagers should have a lot of other things on their minds. The future, their grades, their friends, and yeah, sex. Duh. I'm sorry it's an issue with the Boy Scouts, but they seem to really have made it one, and it's a crumbling institution anyway, not meant for modern times. Tis what tis.

(Wonderful writing as always, Lance.)

[Lance Mannion]

Belvoir, I see your points, but what do you make of the Girl Scouts? They're doing pretty well and not just on the cookie front?