I will play devil’s advocate and just say that Boy Scouts for me was a great place to hang out with other guys and do “Dangerous Things For Boys.” The Stand By Me (another great film about boys hanging out) quote is apt:
I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?
We had gay scouts - no trans scouts that I was aware of - and nobody cared or at least had the decency to evince no caring. So I will personally chalk this decision up almost entirely to the allowing of girls and the de-gendering of scouting.
I think there’s still a place for gender-specific activities. And if BSA due to being a non profit can’t be that organization anymore, I understand the need to create or foster an organization that is.
In all but the most insular WASPy communities, I can imagine that kids really don’t give a shit, it’s just the adults that are threatened by these “moral threats”. A few years ago I ran into the assistant scout master of my formerly-WASPy troop in my home town and conveyed that I’d like to volunteer but take exception to their “you must have theistic beliefs” stance on leaders. He said that no one really cared and take a “don’t ask, don’t tell” stance. All the same, I just can’t sign that paper.
Again, the core issue for the Mormons is the allowing of girls into the Boy Scouts. They’ve been major advocates of the Boy Scouts as a place for “developing good men” and logistically it’s much easier to deal with a group of kids of one gender or another.
Would you really want to be responsible for 2 dozen boys and girls ranging in ages from 11 to 17 on some camping trip to the woods? Or how about summer camp, now it’s 1,000? Feel free to argue that it’s totally doable but there’s a reason it’s not really done and has a lot more to do with liability and risk than moral suasion.
BSA has been for a very long time closely associated with both the Mormon Church and the Catholic Church. With big chunks of their funding coming from both. And there was an increasing association with various evangelical groups over the last couple decades.
Aside from that a good number of merit badges require some connection or participation in a church. Church facilities are often used for activities. And the overall thrust is largely toward specific Christian churches.
Being an openly atheist scout was not fun.
BSA is also closely associated with the NRA. Who run most of the fire arms training and shooting competitions for Scouting. And when I was a kid there was a fair amount of political indoctrination involved in that.
What made you think that someone was suggesting that? I can’t find a single comment that suggests that, even in a veiled way. Did someone say that the government intervene and force the Church of Latter Day Saints to continue their relationship with the Boy Scouts?
Canada’s scouts have been fully co-ed since 1998, but started going co-ed in the early 70s. The UK scouts became co-ed in 1991. Instead of speculating, we could check with those who have been doing this for decades and see how it’s working out. (Spoiler: It’s working fine)
How come this is completely doable in every other country that has co-ed scouts? Society hasn’t collapsed in those places, i think you give troop leaders and kids less credit than they deserve.
My FIL works for the LDS Church, and according to him this is a move they’ve been planning for a long time, as they’re working on their own church-specific programs for both boys and girls. I do find the timing suspect. However, the rest of the family thinks it’s great because they didn’t think a specific religion belonged in scouting anyway - even the still-Mormon kids.
Who’s suggested that? The Boy Scouts of America are exercising their freedom to associate with LBGT kids, the Mormons are exercising their freedom not to associate with the BSA, and the posters on this forum will exercise their freedom to associate or not to associate with Mormons as they see fit.
Considering I know Eagle Scouts (actual friggin’ Eagle Scouts) who had their first taste of pot while at Boy Scout camp, and know of homosexuals meeting each other as scouts at camp, the Mormons really should have ditched the Scouts a long time ago. And in a related matter. . . .
As I read on a reddit thread about this, “Bye Felecia!”
That pretty much sums it up after 20 odd years of scouting. When I was a wee boy we were grateful to have Mormon in the Pack/troop as it allowed us to skip the required Sunday Religious service. But over the last few years, the LDS has customized the scouting program for themselves and I think it rubbed off way too much on Scouts proper.
I think girls in scouting will be great, however that being said there is a lot of resistance, mainly due to the way it has been rolled out. National unveiled this to the press prior to having finalized procedures or even dates. This left many packs and troops holding the bag with no information.
Kids are meant to mess up, have drama, fall in love, and just experience life in order to grow up. I find it distressing that a lot of people had all these things in their childhoods but want to deprive it to future generations.
The way BSA runs things, each troop has to have a sponsoring organization. My troop was sponsored by and met at a local VFW hall, another troop was sponsored by the local police and met at the station. Most troops are sponsored by churches though, and while our sponsoring org never meddled in how we ran as far as I know, the church-based ones certainly have that sort of interference. Combine that with the raft of money given the national org by the LDS folks and they got to call a lot of shots. And I don’t doubt they used it as a recruiting tool for the boys as well.
You are lucky to have not experienced it as a member. Half a hour of drill practice every week and I hated it. My parents wouldn’t let me leave though, and the Scouts were not in a convenient place to get to. I did get a day off school once when the church was hosting Songs of Praise or something, and all I had to do was march up and down the road a few times.
There was also the homophobia and transphobia, but that was more my personal fears of being outed than being actively targeted. It was 25 years too early for me to join the local Guides though, and even now I doubt that they would be happy about it seeing as it is also a church group.
There’s a lot to unpack here but the short answer is that the BSA has been doing co-ed programs since 1969. Venturing, Sea Scouting, Exploring and Learning for Life are all co-ed. Other youth organizations like 4-H have offered mixed gender activities for generations too.
So yes, I will argue it’s totally doable considering how long they’ve actually been doing it.
