Seems like the media is making this a big victory for gay rights in the Boy Scouts vote but it seems to me it’s at least a mixed bag for “gay rights” as defined by the media.
CNN reports while openly gay youths can join the scouts, the BSA will maintain its ban on gay adult leaders. It seems to me the adult leadership issue was the golden ticket, wasn’t it?
But Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute in Washington, D.C., seems pretty worked up about the decision so I could be wrong. He was quoted in USA Today saying the shift “would utterly change Scouting and dramatically reduce their ranks. The Catholic and Mormon groups would simply have to walk away.”
About 70% of all Scout troops are run by faith-based organizations, according to the Boy Scouts of America. About 37% are Mormon, 10% Methodist and 8% Catholic.
Months before the vote, the National Catholic Committee on Scouting said, “We would hope that the Boy Scouts of America will continue to provide young people a formative experience grounded in virtue and directed by service to God and others,” the National Catholic Committee on Scouting said in February.
I hope those who know more about this will offer their two cents in the combox but I just figured I’d pass on the news.
Update: The National Catholic Committee on Scouting released this statement that pretty much says it’s not a sin to be inclined towards homosexuality but it is a sin to have sex outside marriage.
That’s where the issue could be because as the NCCS says “Individuals who are open and avowed homosexuals promoting and engaging in homosexual conduct are not living lives consistent with Catholic teaching.”
In the end they say they’re going to review this policy in the coming months before it goes into effect in January of next year.
Here’s their short statement in full:
For over 100 years, thousands of children in Catholic parishes, schools and fraternal organizations have benefited from chartering Scouting units. The Catholic Church has maintained a strong relationship with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) through the National Catholic Committee on Scouting (NCCS) for many years and we hope to maintain that relationship.
Today, the voting members of the BSA voted to change the membership standards for its youth members. The BSA proposed in its resolution that “no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.” Its membership standards for adult leaders remain unchanged.
The Catholic Church teaches that people who experience a homosexual inclination or a same sex attraction are to be treated with respect recognizing the dignity of all persons. The Church’s teaching is clear that engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage is immoral. Individuals who are open and avowed homosexuals promoting and engaging in homosexual conduct are not living lives consistent with Catholic teaching.
Since the change in policy will not take effect until January 1, 2014, the National Catholic Committee on Scouting has adequate time to study its effects. The NCCS will determine how it may impact Catholic chartered Scout units and activities. In doing so, we will work within the teachings of our Catholic Faith and with the various local bishops and their diocesan scouting committees.
Ed Martin- National Chair
Father Michael Hanifin-National Chaplain
May 23, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Now that the Boy Scouts of America have waved the white flag to the post-Christian culture, this may be the future of Scouting for faithful Catholics — the Federation of North American Explorers.
http://www.fneexplorers.com/
May 24, 2013 at 10:32 pm
Yes!
May 24, 2013 at 10:46 pm
Yes!
May 24, 2013 at 12:01 am
Our pastor promised not to recharter our parish's troop if this became a reality. I guess our parish boys will have to shift to Explorers or to find other troops to join… It's a sad day for Christian Scouts.
May 24, 2013 at 12:02 am
Allowing avowed homosexual youth is but the camel's nose in the tent. The scouts have esentially forfeited any moral argument against the adults. Once that step for "progress" has been established, the next step of allowing openly homosexual adults will be much easier to achieve. You can hear some of the arguments already, "The 'gay' youth should have adult leaders who truly understand them." "It makes no sense to ban gay adults when you already allow gay youth. What, do you believe that homophobic stereotype that homosexual adults prey on boys? You homophobe you!" Etc., etc., etc. Also, "youth" includes up to at least 17 year-old scouts who often take on leadership roles.
May 24, 2013 at 10:35 pm
Totally agree. The activists say they won't stop until gay adults are allowed.
May 24, 2013 at 12:16 am
I am sickened by this. Do they think for a minute that the left is going to be appeased by this move?
May 24, 2013 at 12:31 am
This is the last year our boys will be scouting. We have a faithful troop and none of the leaders want to deal with a lawsuit if an "openly homosexual" kid wants to join. And I'm not sending my boys to a week long camp with "openly homosexual" boys. Too bad. It was good while it lasted.
May 24, 2013 at 1:02 am
It really puts the religious troops in a no-win situation: admit the openly-gay kid, who's necessarily going to be an activist and cut against the grain of the sponsoring church. Or try to bar him and lose your charter. And I can easily envision some guerilla theatre targeting of religious troops just to prove a point. Also, don't forget–the scouts also have peer leaders with considerable authority. So it won't be the case that there will be no gay leaders–just no adult gay leaders.
The compromise is unstable–a case can even be made that it's deliberately so. They know they're going to lose troops–the presentation made to the voters pointed that out.
Plus, logically–wha? The kid's ok until he turns 18, at which point he's persona non grata? Designed or not, it will be a brief interlude until they bleed out enough religious troops and gin up enough soft-focus human interest stories about the meanie BSA to permit gay adult leaders. And the organization is dissembling on that very point:
"The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue. As the National Executive Committee just completed a lengthy review process, there are no plans for further review on this matter."
"There are no plans…" Well, plans change. Especially when you know you're losing the people most likely to resist change.
May 24, 2013 at 2:15 am
So who twisted their arms to shove down this perversion? The lap dogs of Obama. Destroying all this is decent and wholesome and replacing it will Islam, homosexuality, beastiality, pedophilia, graft, corruption, illegal aliens, free condoms etc… And we all sit and wonder what the hell happened.
May 24, 2013 at 2:20 am
But you CAN be expelled from scouts for not being 'morally straight."
So, basically, if a guy has SSA and doesn't act on it, he can join. If he engages in a sexual relationship, he's out.
Not sure how this is a change… they never interviewed the 9 year olds about their sexual preferences…..
May 24, 2013 at 2:24 am
The change is in the culture that normalizes what is abominable to God. By their acts, the group is saying it is OK to be gay. It is not something to fight and struggle with and that is a direct contradiction to the truth.
May 24, 2013 at 2:25 am
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May 24, 2013 at 2:26 am
This is a big deal because the Supreme Court victory was based on the premise that morally straight = no homosexual activity and that it was a core value of the organization. By allowing openly homosexual boys, the BSA is forfeiting its legal defense. When a lawsuit to allow that poor openly homosexual kid and his lover to become leaders goes to court, the BSA will lose.
May 24, 2013 at 2:47 am
It'll be interesting to see how long the BSA will remain as strong and vibrant after this decision. Activist will rail against any organization that attempts to regulate its own membership based on faith and morals. If the activists got what what they fully wanted, they would say mission accomplished and move on and you would not see a big explosion of "gay" kids.
May 24, 2013 at 3:46 am
If this decision were about providing a safe haven for a timid, bullied child–a child who gets called "fag" or "gay" at school–then it would be very much in line with Catholic teaching. But it is not about that, as the word "openly" in "openly gay" indicates. Already the AP has a photo accompanying this story of a rainbow-colored-knot merit badge labeled "Inclusive Scouting." The lesson to the bullied young kid: "Your fate is to strip to your underpants and ride in a float down Main Street in some future Pride Parade." Evil. Just evil.
May 24, 2013 at 4:20 am
The American Heritage Girls, the only female organization that the BSA had official ties to, has severed all partnerships effective today.
May 24, 2013 at 4:26 am
The Federation of North American Explorers is an affiliate of the International Union of Guides and Scouts of Europe, also known as the Federation of European Scouts, or UIGSE-FSE. They were founded in 1956 by a group of Catholic Scoutmasters from Germany and France seeking a faith-based use of Scouting for reconciliation between the two countries in the postwar era. They have 24 associations in 20 countries, including Canada and (lately) the USA.
In 2003, the Holy See granted them canonical status as an "association of the faithful of pontifical right."
Not too shabby.
May 24, 2013 at 4:28 am
From last night:
Scout's Honor Reconsidered
"The truly sad thing is, that boys who struggle with issues of gender identity will be the biggest losers if the resolution passes. There will be no presumption of the need for guidance if the product of any amount of confusion in adolescent development is immediately dismissed as 'normal,' despite the bulk of civilized history speaking to the contrary. A seventeen-year-old candidate for Eagle Scout who believes he is gay can be handled one way, while the eleven-year-old girl who 'self-identifies' as a boy and wants to join a Boy Scout troop can be handled another way. The point is, there is presently the potential for options. If the resolution passes, there is only one."
May 24, 2013 at 5:09 am
"Allowing avowed homosexual youth is but the camel's nose in the tent." agreed the BSA are just another victim of homosexual bullying. but think about this will homosexual youths be flocking to the join the Scouts? I doubt it. It is much like the states where SSM is legal. there was an initial demand but I suspect that SSM marriages have dropped dramatically. the press hasn't done that sort of research because if they demand is not there well….
May 24, 2013 at 2:19 pm
Really? Let's not play stupid here people! This vote on gay scouts is JUST the prerequisite vote on gay scout masters. Just as the push for Civil Union is the prerequisite before full Gay Marriage.
Saints do not compromise on virtue; neither does Satan compromise on evil. The boy scouts WILL have adult gay leaders.
May 24, 2013 at 2:34 pm
I have two sons in Boy Scouting. I was a den leader and my husband has helped in our older son's troop. I'm just not sure right now what we are going to do. This decision has left chartering organizations who choose to hold to their moral beliefs with no protection from the National Council. I have no problem with chaste, same sex attracted kids joining scouting. I think the scouting program is good for boys who are struggling with SSA and who are trying to remain chaste. Indeed, a new policy is unnecessary if all the boys, straight or gay, follow the Scout law.
Regarding camping, There are already Venturing Crews within troops that are co-ed. The girls camp in separate tents from the boys, but not in separate campsites. I imagine that there would have to be a troop-level policy that no boys should share tents.
Just seeing a lot of unintended consequences here…
May 24, 2013 at 2:48 pm
I am the mother of two Eagle Scouts – now men.
Where is a *heterosexual* young mand to go to learn to be a man?
Straight males are unique and have their own needs and concerns. They should be allowed to associate and learn in THAT context!
Scouting was never uniquely Catholic but its mission was ALWAYS to teach a boy to be a man – now what?!