Boy Scouts lift gay leadership ban

Where is the pledge? I want to see the pledge? What do I gotta promise?

Lets be clear here. Mormons. Itā€™s the Mormons, and they have a unique (not excusable) relationship with BSA in which Scouting is a part of the church Religious Education curricula. Nothing against Mormons, aside from this.

What needs to happen is the BSA has to go ahead and disaffiliate the Mormon scout groups, and yes, walk away from those dues.

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For my part, because I grew up in Scouting and therefore everything else is just ā€œsome imitationā€. Also, I was Catholic at the time I joined, I turned atheist at age 14 or 15. I have believing and atheist, straight and gay friends in scouting. I was always a scout.

Camp Quest seems to be a nice summer camp. Kids get sent there once a year because their parents approve of the values propagated by Camp Quest. I donā€™t see a youth group where young people get to meet regularly (not just in summer), become life long friends, and make new friends from all over the world.

Neither is scouting. Some local sub-organisations are - and unfortunately, the BSA is one of those. That needs to be fixed.
But the BSA has yet more local sub-organisations - local troops, some of which are entirely decent.

Dude, youā€™re making me regret giving up my eagle rankā€¦ I denounced it and canā€™t go back on that.

seriously, you just poked me in a raw nerve.

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Sorry about that.

But, if it helps to console you, the Eagle Scout rank is a purely American thing. You have given up something that is specific to BSA tradition, not something that is central to Scouting as a whole. To me, that sounds like a very appropriate thing to do.

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Canadian Eagle Scouts.
You donā€™t own us
yet

Youā€™re a racist sexist homophobic militarist anachronistic boys marching club trying to move into the mid 20th century.I donā€™t give a fuck how many pancakes you can cook. youā€™re not gonna date my daughter.

For your consideration. Goes to motive. http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/us/disney-pulls-boy-scouts-funding/index.html?fb_action_ids=10202380784294891&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=[431374616965947]&action_type_map=["og.recommends"]&action_ref_map=[]

From the Scouts for Equality email sent yesterday:

We learned earlier today that the Boy Scouts of Americaā€™s National Executive Committee has voted unanimously to approve a resolution that would end the organizationā€™s decades-old ban on gay adults.

I want to stress two important caveats here:

  1. The resolution passed by the Executive Committee explicitly allows for BSA units chartered (ie legally sponsored) by churches to select their own leaders, which means that conservative units will continue to effectively ban gay adults. Progressive faith units and units sponsored by secular organizations will not discriminate.
  1. The resolution has to be approved by the full National Executive Board at their meeting on Monday, July 27.

Despite these caveats, todayā€™s announcement is a big deal. If the Boy Scouts of Americaā€™s full National Executive Board approves these changes in two weeks (and it would be totally unprecedented for the National Executive Board to overturn a vote by the National Executive Committee) openly gay adults will be able to register with the Boy Scouts of America for the first time in decades.

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Link:

https://www.scoutsforequality.org

One of my high school classmates is very active in this organization. He was kicked out as an assistant scout master just for being gay, which is a huge loss for his troop, as he is the Platonic ideal of a scout leader.

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ā€œCanadian Eagle Scoutsā€? Huh?

What are you talking about?

Who are you talking to? Maybe that description applies to some BSA troops in the most racist sexist homophobic militarist anachronistic parts of America. None of the seven attributes you list apply to my troop in Austria, to Austriaā€™s national scouting organisation, or to worldwide scouting.

Did you just happen to aim your insults at the wrong address, or did I miss a joke?

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I understand your trouble. My first troop in Massachusetts (in theory a Liberal Paradise) was not over the top any of those things, however we were a troop of clean cut straight white boys in uniform who did spook the other troops with the excellence of our close order drill. Leaders wanted us to look good in parades, and many of them were former military. Soā€¦ I can see his point. I do not think it is a fair description of most other troops, but it was a not totally unfair description of my first one!

Iā€™m surprised that there hasnā€™t been a large increase in Boys Brigade companies.

Iā€™m sure the mixture of religion and military discipline would appeal to the American right. It even comes with a 100 year old rivalry with the Boy Scouts, although it might be too friendly for those who want to seperate from BSA.

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I may have to pull my Eagle Scout medal out of the back of the cabinet I stuffed it into a few years ago.

Iā€™ll stand by the quote.
Enerest Thompson Seaton was my god.Two Little Savages was my Bible My old man was a Marine
The Boy Scouts of America was and Iā€™m sure will continue to be a sexist racist homophobic militarist prep school for cannon fodder

I liked the Boys Brigade being around. Made being in the Scouts feel a lot less naff. Until I joined the Air Cadets, which was much more fun.

Still had to pretend to be be religious and swear allegiance to an old lady with a funny hat, mind.

Iā€™d rather swear allegiance to a funny hat than a flag

Yeah, I read that it has to be ratified to become the new standard. There isnā€™t a guarantee that it will be, but Iā€™m hoping so! I think boy scouts has a lot to offer kids, but I canā€™t support it or allow my kid to join if it is choosing to discriminate against an entire group of people. That would just be wrong.

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ā€œOn my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty, to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.ā€

8 Years old and I still choked on the ā€œStraightā€

See why I complained that you were aiming your insults at the wrong address? I am not, never was, and probably never will be a member of the Boy Scouts of America. I had to use Google to find out who this Seton guy was. I have been a scout here in Austria since I was 8, though.

Well, people are underestimating the diversity of scouting. Here in Austria, weā€™re definitely not a ā€œboys marching clubā€, as weā€™re coeducational and we donā€™t march.
I donā€™t have a handle on the level of militarism in ā€œniceā€ BSA troops - after all, compared to what Iā€™ve learned while growing up as a scout in Austria, ALL of American culture seems scarily militaristic to me, so Iā€™m not really surprised if American scouts place more value (read: any value at all) on ā€œexcellence of our close order drillā€.

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There werenā€™t any Scouts close to where I lived, and the Boys Brigade is even less fun if you are trans. It did have itā€™s enjoyable moments though.

I would have joined the Guides if I though I could transition at that time, but I donā€™t think that even the most liberal CofE church would have been ready for that in the 1990s.