Take a look at the Boy Scout Oath. It reads:
"On 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."
Now take a look at the Boy Scout Law. It reads:
"A Scout is: Trustworthy,
Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave,
Clean, Reverent."
Those are ideals the Boy Scouts of America strive to instill
in all of its 3 million youth members and 1.1 million registered adult leaders.
These members comprise 122,582 local Scout troops that annually log more than
34 million hours of community service.
These are the ideals and activities that I ascribed to when
I was a Boy Scout in the 1950s.
 |
What parent would not want their son to be in an
organization that emphasizes such behavior?
Yet, now the Boy Scouts of America are coming under
increasing criticism because of the organization's policy of excluding openly
homosexual boys and leaders. The official policy reads:
"While the B.S.A. does not proactively
inquire about the sexual orientation of employees, volunteers or members, we do
not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who
engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the
B.S.A."
What kind of a distraction? you might ask yourself.
How about the thought of homosexuals taking your sons into
the woods overnight? What could possibly go wrong? Right?
In 1998, the Boy Scouts of America fired any troop leader
who announced his homosexuality, a decision that the Supreme Court supported in
2000.
The Supreme Court upheld the policy of the Boy Scouts of
America to decide who joins their ranks in asserting that they have the right
to bar openly gay troop leaders based on their constitutional right of freedom
of association and free speech under the First Amendment.
That legal battle followed the discovery that a 42-year old
scoutmaster of a New York scout troop repeatedly sodomized a young teen in his
troop over the course of a three-year period during the mid-nineties.
And that case was not the only issue involving scout leaders
and homosexuality. Ex-scoutmasters nationwide have recently faced charges ranging
from rape to sodomy. Cases of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts have been on the
upswing in recent years--from 70 a year in the 1980s to more than 200 a year in
the early 2000s.
Let's look at some facts--facts that you won't hear or see
in the mainstream media or mentioned by the Obama White House.
The US Census reports that homosexuals comprise 3-4% of the American
population. The percent of pedophiles in the general population is about 4%,
but according to FBI Crime Statistics, the rate is 35% among gay men. Can you
imagine sending your young son off into the woods with boys and men who see
males as possible girl friends, and who are 35% more likely to commit a sex
crime?
For that reason, most parents of Boy Scouts view this as a
safety issue more than a moral issue.
Naturally, if you
raise these points you are accused of being homo-phobic, an anti-gay bigot, or some
other form of 21st Century cretin.
Let's look at the Boy Scouts of America. Since its founding
in the U.S. in 1910, more than 110
million Americans have been members.
It was started as a private, members-only organization--and
it still is.
Recently, someone sent me a post by someone calling himself
"The Dad." What he (or perhaps she) wrote made a lot of sense. Take a
look:
"If you want to
start a club shouldn’t you be allowed to decide who the members are? It’s your
club. You started it. Why, if I start a Dallas Cowboys fan club, should I be forced to admit Redskins fans?
And why in the heck would they want to join anyway? Start your own club.
"If you start a club for bald people, why would you want people with long flowing locks to join?
"If you start a club for bald people, why would you want people with long flowing locks to join?
"If you start a
club to teach boys skills for life that you think are important, why should you
be forced to allow people who hate your values to join and become leaders in
your organization?It makes no sense.
"If you disagree with the Boy Scouts start your own
club! The Scouts have worked hard for many years to create their organization,
you have no right to move in and try and take it over. If you think your idea
of what scouting should be is so much better – start your own organization and
see how many people leave the Scouts to join your group."
Or, failing that, perhaps you might consider joining the
Girl Scouts.
