BSA and their future

Readers of this blog know that I am a volunteer for the Boy Scouts of America. Recently BSA reaffirmed their policy to exclude homosexuals from membership. While I am not surprised by this decision, I am disappointed. But what really confounds me is that they failed to take the opportunity to at least clarify their position.

What this does is allow for speculation. Is this a moral judgment on gays or are they trying to remove sexuality like they do by excluding girls? With camping, scouting’s signature method, it’s easy to segregate girls from boys for sleeping arrangements, and the need goes without question. But if we have gay scouts, what then? Will there be need for leader training on how to deal with camping nookie?

And with gay scout leaders, are they afraid of leader abuse or the nefarious notion of “gay conversion”? In Scouts defense, I understand the concern of allowing leaders to camp with boys they may be sexually attracted to. However, we know that Venture Scouts allow female members and the Girl Scouts allow male leaders. Add to this the fact that the most recent publicized case of a gay leader being ousted was a woman.

Were I to speculate, I would think a principle concern is the reaction of the more than one million volunteer leaders. Once BSA as a whole allows gay membership, no single unit will be able to opt out, and some among our ranks may choose to walk. A drop of just five percent of the trained, dedicated leaders would send repercussions across the community. Units would fail. And the number may be much higher than that.

The Boy Scouts of America is committed to the healthy development of American boys, and gay youths certainly can benefit from the program. And if they believe their mantra that all boys deserve the benefit of scouting, they will include all boys.

We don’t know yet what the public reaction will be, but we are on the cusp of two critical moments: recruitment and popcorn sales. Will Americans vote with both their feet and their wallet? I hope not. That could spell disaster for two scout units I work with. But we will soon see.

I can’t say how the leaders I know would react to a policy change, but I think it would mostly be positive. I hope BSA’s reasoning doesn’t center around Hellfire and Damnation but I can’t know. When religious doctrine becomes an obstacle to compassion and understanding it must be discarded. Boy Scouts of America must change, and, difficulties be damned, it will. Otherwise this will be it’s demise. BSA must take the moral high road and the initial membership hit. And if we are going to exclude people, we should at least say why.