Posted 3 years ago
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Mormons, gays, and the boy scouts

squashed:

As you undoubtedly know, the Boy Scouts of America ban gay troop leaders. I have not heard (even unpersuasive) reasons as to why it is a good idea for a private, secular organization to have such a policy. (I’m not disputing that under the law the B.S.A. can have this policy—just that they shouldn’t.) In fact, it’s a bit surprising to me. The scouts aren’t usually so out of step with the rest of the country. Sure, some of the guys on top are a bit older and crustier—but you’d think they would at least keep pace with the military on something like this.

This weekend, I learned why none of the efforts to change this policy have made it on the national agenda. It turns out that while most scout troops are secular organizations, the Mormons are entertwined in others. About 400,000 scouts are from LDS troops. And many of the national leaders are associated with these troops. They are able to effectively block any policy changes. And apparently the rest of the organization is worried that the Mormons would pull out their support if the anti-gay policy is removed.

I think the organization should change the policy anyway. I offer this perspective not to say that the national organization is doing the right thing but to point out that your local scout troop has no way in this policy. In fact, your local council might even explicitly have told the National Committee that it won’t follow this policy.

This is why I can’t stand Liberal thinking. You are going to have a gay man take a bunch of young kids camping and teach them things about the wild? Are you kidding me? Would you honestly let your son go camping with a man that was openly gay? Better yet, what if a gay couple led a group and they went camping together, would you condone that also? This is not to say that the only thing B.S.A do is camp, but they do a lot of it.  Not to mention other “bonding” type of activities. I understand that being Liberal means you think everyone should have the right to do anything they want, but give me a break! This was a stretch Mr. Squashed! Even for you!