My oldest son will be entering 2nd grade this coming school year, I have been recently thinking and have already talked to him about him joining Boy Scouts. He’s small in stature and loves adventure and learning new things, so naturally I thought this would be a great opportunity for him to do an extracurricular activity that he’d probably enjoy a great deal. I had a really great scout leader and “pack” all picked out, a nice guy from a nice family, and my son knows the other boys in the troop, so I was all but ready to pay the yearly dues and start his membership. That is until today when I heard the disappointing news that the Boy Scouts of America, after a confidential 2 year review, reaffirmed their Anti-Gay policy. This includes both boys as members and adults as scout leaders. I honestly didn’t even know this was a policy in the first place. One of the biggest and oldest traditional groups for a young boy to join and they are adamantly homophobic. To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. My head wants to explode. It took 2 years of review to decide, yup, we still want to be a markedly bigoted group that teaches kids it’s okay to be exclusionary and hateful. No Thank You!
The insinuation is horrible. No, its sickening. They are essentially proclaiming that gays aren’t fit to lead and care for children. Or that boys should not associate with their gay friends. That it’s okay to exclude people based on their lifestyle or traits that they are born with. That someone else is less than. I don’t even want to say out loud that they must think homosexuality equates with pedophilia, because that makes me furious. Beyond furious. I shouldn’t have to even have to explain that that’s insane. Anyway you spin it, this policy is not okay.
The sad thing is, this probably doesn’t even effect each individual troop that much. I have no clue on what the stance of my son’s future, would-have-been scout leaders would be, and at this point, that doesn’t really matter. How in good conscience can I let my son become a member of an exclusionary group that stands up for bigotry and hatred. I just can’t. I teach my children whenever an opportunity arises, to stand up for their peers, and to accept all kinds of people, so obviously since the Boy Scouts is standing up against this message and standing for the complete opposite, I just can’t become a party to it.
How am I supposed to predict, at such a young age, my child’s or my children’s friends or future nieces or nephews sexual preferences? I can’t. So how can I encourage or allow membership into an exclusionary, bigoted group that one day could potentially not even allow them or their friends or family members admittance or participation. Both of my older children have friends with gay parents, as well as I have friends, how can I support and give money to an organization that excludes these friends and their families. What if my son goes to school and says how cool this new club is, and one of his best friends is upset because his kind isn’t welcome there? As I previously stated, No thank you!
I feel like this is a good teaching opportunity for me and my kids. Yes, my son was looking forward to the camping trips and earning badges, but sorry, we will not join exclusionary bigoted groups, even if it means we are disappointed in missing out in activities we wanted to do.
I usually stay away from blogging about and pushing my agenda as far as gay issues or marriage, which I fully support, because it’s not my job to push my views on others, but I feel like its important to make a stand and speak out against blatantly bigoted groups like the BSA. I know they are a private organization and can do what they want with their membership. I also feel like I no longer want them promoting their clubs, which most certainly stand for hate, in our children’s public schools. How can we even let them set up booths at open houses when all walks of life walk those halls? When the scout leaders call my home and in the fall and when I walk past the tables filled with fliers, I plan on saying exactly why I will not let my sons join Boy Scouts, and I hope my children take note in what I will say. It’s unfortunate that they choose to be so hateful, but without looking back I can say that I will not support in any way or look at the Boy Scouts in quite the same way again.
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