Boy Scouts End Longtime Ban on Openly Gay Youths
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: May 23, 2013 27 Comments
GRAPEVINE, Tex. — The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday ended its longstanding policy of forbidding openly gay youths to participate in its activities, a step its chief executive called “compassionate, caring and kind.”
David Manning/Reuters
The badge of an Eagle Scout in Orlando, Fla., last year. More than 1,400 volunteer Boy Scouts leaders voted Thursday, with more than 60 percent approving the measure to end the organization's ban on gay members.
At the Heart of an Institution
Three people with ties to the Boy Scouts offer perspectives on the organization that has for years served as a symbol of conservative America.
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Mark Makela for The New York Times
Allison Mackey of Hanover, Pa., with her five sons — one an Eagle Scout, three now active in scouting and an eight-year-old who had planned to join. All the sons said they were willing to abandon the Boy Scouts if openly gay members are allowed.
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The decision, which came after years of resistance and wrenching internal debate, was widely seen as a milestone for the Boy Scouts, a symbol of traditional America. More than 1,400 volunteer leaders from across the country voted, with more than 60 percent approving a measure that said no youth may be denied membership “on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”
The top national leaders of the Boy Scouts, who pledge fealty to God and country, had urged the change in the face of vehement opposition from conservative parents and volunteers, some of whom said they would quit the organization. But the vote put the Scouts more in line with the swift rise in public acceptance of homosexuality, especially among younger parents who are essential to the future of an institution that has been losing members for decades.
The policy change, effective January 2014, is unlikely to bring peace to the Boy Scouts as they struggle to keep a foothold in a swirling cultural landscape, with renewed lobbying and debate already starting Thursday evening.
The Scouts did not consider the even more divisive question of whether to allow openly gay adults and leaders. This drew criticism from advocates for gay rights, who called the decision a breakthrough but vowed to continue pressing the Scouts to allow gay members of all ages.
Some conservative churches and parents said the Scouts were violating their oath to be “morally straight” and said they would drop out.
Still, for gay men who were forced out of scouting and for their allies, thousands of whom joined the push for change, the opening of membership was more than welcome.
“I’ve waited 13 years for this,” said Matt Comer, now 27, who had to leave his scout troop at 14 after he started a Gay-Straight Alliance at his school. Since the fourth grade, he said Thursday, he had dreamed of becoming an Eagle Scout and was crushed when he was denied the chance.
“Today we finally have some justice for me and others,” he said. “But gay youths will still be told they are no longer welcome when they turn 18.”
Leaders of the conservative faction predicted that lawsuits would soon force the Boy Scouts to allow openly gay leaders, and they accused the top leaders of ignoring the beliefs of their members.
“The fallout from this is going to be tremendous,” said Robert Schwarzwalder, a senior vice president of theFamily Research Council, a conservative Christian group, and a father of two scouts in Northern Virginia. “I think there will be a loss of hundreds of thousands of boys and parents.”
“This great institution is going to be vitiated by the intrusion of a political agenda,” he said.
After the decision was announced Thursday, John Stemburger, an evangelical leader from Florida who organized a campaign to block the change, said that like-minded groups and parents would meet next month in Louisville, Ky., to discuss creating what he called a new “character development organization for boys,” an alternative to scouting.
Glaad, a gay-rights group that has campaigned for change over the last year, said it would keep pressure on the Boy Scouts over the leadership issue.
“We’ll continue urging corporate donors and public officials to withhold their support,” said Richard Ferraro, the group’s vice president for communications.
Several sponsors, including the UPS Foundation, Merck, the Intel Foundation, and many local United Ways and city agencies had already ended financing for the Scouts because the group’s policies violated their own nondiscrimination guidelines.
In a closed meeting of the assembled delegates here Wednesday night, the top three leaders of the Boy Scouts — Wayne Brock, the paid chief executive; Wayne Perry, the volunteer president who is a corporate leader from Washington State; and Tico Perez, the volunteer commissioner and a consultant in Florida — made a strong plea to delegates and dissenting board members to allow gay youths, saying the goal of scouting was to reach as many boys as possible, according to people who attended.
“This is not about what’s legal but what’s compassionate, caring and kind,” Mr. Brock reportedly said.
No similar proposal to allow gay adults was on the agenda, and the executives have said little about how they made the distinction. But in surveys this spring, many parents and volunteers around the country said they were against the idea of openly gay scout leaders.
The vote was a bittersweet one for David Knopp, 86, who spent much of his life in scouting as a boy, as a professional staff member and later as a volunteer with a council in Connecticut. He had tried to keep his sexual orientation a secret but one day in 1993, he said, two scout officials said, “We found out you are a homosexual,” and forced him out.
“I see this as a good step, but with a lot of misgivings,” he said of the limited opening to gays.
Some of the most conservative parents and leaders are already thinking of what comes next.
Allison Mackey of Hanover, Pa., has five sons — one an Eagle Scout, three now active in scouting and an 8-year-old who had planned to join.
The family has discussed the issue and reached a decision, she said: All the sons were willing to abandon the Boy Scouts if openly gay members are allowed.
“The Boy Scouts are something we’ve really enjoyed because they celebrate manliness and leadership,” she said. But, she added, she and her husband were “looking to encourage our sons in traditional Christian values.”
Personally, she said she would be disappointed to see her sons leave the Scouts.
“To stand by principles would be difficult,” she said. “But we’re going to have to say no. The organization is giving up freedom.”
In a meeting with reporters after the vote, Mr. Perry, the national president of the Boy Scouts, sought to put the rancor behind.
“We’re moving forward together,” he said. “Everyone agrees on one thing, no matter how you feel about this issue, kids are better off in scouting.”
Good decision by the Boy Scouts. There is nothing wrong with a gay kid being a scout so long as he acts appropriately at scouting events. If not, he should be expelled. The same applies to hetero kids who break the rules by fighting, stealing, etc. Agree?
ReplyDelete--David
In a politically correct US, the Scouts were on the outside looking in. My personal opinion is that this will hurt the Scout program which was the real purpose of the suit against the organization and the pressure that was brought against them. Everything that once was good, now is bad and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, Scouts will be put under more pressure to allow gay leaders which will cause many parents to pull their kids out of scouts. Who would allow their young boy to go on an outing with an avowed gay man. Granted all pedophiles are not gay, many are hetero, however, when a man is attracted to another man or boy does not make parents comfortable.
The end game is to end the entire Scouting program. Good things are bad and bad things good.
You did not answer my question.
ReplyDelete--David
No I do not agree. It is easy to kick a kid out of the Scouts if he fights, steals. Try kicking any gay person out of anything and you will be branded as a "homophobe" or worse! The argument will be that "is the way he is and the Scouts should make accommodations for him." No, the two things are not at all the same.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about this case, the worse I think it is. It runs contrary to the Scout Law and Oath, it will bring into conflict many of the sponsoring organizations which in many cases are churches, and it will lead to gay males being scout masters. Should that happen, Scout membership will drop significantly and will lead to the end of the organization.
Most Scout parents are conservative, religious people who believe that the things that the program teaches is very important. The leadership skills, team work skills and personal accomplishments that my sons learned are going to be with them throughout their lives. Basically eliminating "morally straight" as one of the parts of the Oath, is important. One cannot be morally straight if they are gay!
So your assumption is that if a gay kid acts out sexually at a scouting event, he gets preferential treatment. Yeah, we disagree. I have seen what happens at schools. I know a gay boy who sent a Facebook note to another kid with the message "Do you like to suck c**k?" The parents were called in. The kid was suspended. The principal was not concerned about being branded "homophobe." Any responsible scout leader would take the same actions.
ReplyDelete--David
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