BSA opens door halfway

It's hard to cheer. The Boy Scouts of America has decided to allow gay kids to be Scouts...but will maintain a ban on gay adult leaders. A story at the NYT tells how one gay Scout sees this change:

Tessier is on track to receive his Eagle Scout award — he only needs to complete his final project — but said he is troubled that on his 18th birthday he could transform from someone holding Scouting's highest rank to someone unfit to be a part of the organization. 

"That one couple hours (between 17 and 18) will make me not a good person," he said. 

It's that twisted. But hey, gay Scouts are in. Let's see how long the ban on gay adult leaders lasts. Not long, I would think. 

I do have another concern, one I don't see echoed in any of the stories about this change at BSA. As matters stand, I think there's good reason to worry about handing your gay kid over to a straight male Scout leader who could easily be a homophobe. I'll bet there are lots of anti-gay nutjobs leading troops right now. Remember, the BSA has been a safe haven for such men for a very long time. For this reason, the BSA needs to arrange for a competent gay organization to provide sensitivity training sessions for all current and future leaders. And that's just the start. We'll also need to monitor how gay Scouts are treated by adult staff (and by straight Scouts who have been brain-damaged by all the crazy talk that preceded this decision).

But for today, let's just sit back and wait for wingnut heads to explode. This should be fun.

World chimes in on Boy Scouts

It's nice to see all the articles bashing the BSA (Boy Scouts of America) for its new schizophrenic policy that says gay scouts are fine but gay leaders are representatives of Satan. These articles are popping up all over. Here's an excerpt from an article at CNN:

"They're teaching them to be bigots essentially," she said. "This world is changing so quickly. You can't raise leaders for tomorrow on principles founded 100 years ago."

It looks like the organization's effort to ooze on by while retaining their bigotry isn't getting rave reviews. Good. These people are as bad as the Vatican. Their hatred of gays is so intense, they can't let go.

I really don't understand the virulence of people like this. Why is hating gay people so important to them? Why is it similarly important to the Vatican? And why do the people at NOM and all the other hate groups despise gay people with such a passion?

I don't know what happened to these people to make them so ugly and hateful, but it's time for them to shut up and go away. They've harmed too many innocent people for far too long. And thankfully, the public agrees.

Gee, thanks!

Under pressure over its longstanding ban on gays, the Boys Scouts of America is proposing to lift the ban for youth members but continue to exclude gays as adult leaders. 

That will be a plus (I hope) for the gay boy scouts who are allowed in, though one wonders how they'll be treated by the bigoted staff and whether they'll be awarded badges like the normal other kids.

And when these gay scouts grow up and decide to share what they've learned by becoming adult scout leaders, I assume they'll be shown the door -- in a loving, godly way, of course. Like, don't let the door slam your ass on the way out, kid. What a wonderful experience for the child.

The Boy Scouts of America, like the Vatican, is determined to remain confused by sexuality. It's just too hard for them to understand.

BTW, the story hints at the responses the BSA received after sending out their dreadful survey. (I wrote about the survey when they announced that they were sending it out to members.) The questions were designed to elicit a negative response to gay scouts and leaders. However, it seems the BSA was surprised by the opposite response. In other words, everyone accurately sees them as bigots.

This decision only confirms the BSA's bigotry. It's a half-assed gesture that tells the world they've learned nothing during their self-imposed and very public period of introspection.

Boy Scouts survey encourages anti-gay attitudes

They just wanted to poll their members. Right. This Boy Scouts survey is designed for one purpose only: to encourage fear and hostility toward gay scouts and leaders. Reading the questions made me ill. It's like they were dreamt up by NOM.

• A gay male troop leader, along with another adult leader, is taking a group of  boys on a camping trip following the youth protection guidelines of two-deep leadership. Is it acceptable or unacceptable for the gay adult leader to take adolescent boys on an overnight camping trip?
• Bob is 15 years old, and the only openly gay Scout in a Boy Scout troop. Is it acceptable or unacceptable for the troop leader to allow Bob to tent with a heterosexual boy on an overnight camping trip?
• Johnny, a first grade boy, has joined Tiger Cubs with his friends. Johnny’s friends and their parents unanimously nominate Johnny’s mom, who is known by them to be lesbian, to be the den leader. Johnny’s pack is chartered to a church where the doctrine of that faith does not teach that homosexuality is wrong. Is it acceptable or unacceptable for his mother to serve as a den leader for his Cub Scout den?
• David, a Boy Scout, believes that homosexuality is wrong. His troop is chartered to a church where the doctrine of that faith also teaches that homosexuality is wrong. Steve, an openly gay youth, applies to be a member in the troop and is denied membership. Is it acceptable or unacceptable for this troop to deny Steve membership in their troop?

If you don't know what's wrong with these questions, you're probably at the wrong blog. I'm surprised they didn't ask this one:

• Johnny is gay and has a bomb that he carries around with him all the time. Is it okay for Johnny to sleep with your 8-year-old son on a single cot, with a lighter and lube in his hand?

The Boy Scouts of America is playing this game just as the Vatican would -- with a stacked deck. Christian churches have made a mess of gay issues, just as the Scouts have. And it seems, judging by this survey (and the election of the new anti-gay pope), that nothing will ever change in either of these organizations.