The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) recently announced that they are considering a change to their membership policy relating to open homosexuality and homosexual scout leaders. The proposed change is inconsistent with the values of scouting and should be rejected. The number one focus should be the millions of young boys who join scouting and their families. Any consideration regarding the opinion of pressure groups that want to destroy scouting and the concern of corporate money should not influence a decision that would alter the core of timeless values.

The right of a private organization to establish membership policies have already been settled by the Supreme Court in the matter of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale. As to any other concerns regarding equal access, several federal laws ensure that right. The federal Equal Access law requires equal access at schools for all groups including scouting. Federal law requires the military to work together with scouting and the scouting has the support of our elected leaders. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) conducted a two year study on whether to change their membership policy taking into consideration all opinions but most importantly those of its members and decided to maintain the policy. There study found that 92% of members were in favor of maintaining the current policy. BSA spokesman Deron Smith confirmed their findings by issuing the following statement; “The vast majority of parents value their right to address issues of same-sex orientation within their family… at the appropriate time and right setting.” So why is BSA now suddenly trying to do a 180 degree turn??

The issue is pressure from homosexual extremist groups who are demanding that the BSA cave. One in particular, the Human Rights Campaign indicated that the proposed change; letting local chartering organizations decide their own membership policy is still unacceptable. Their goal is the destruction of scouting and people of faith. HRC has a long history of attacking people of faith. The Speaker of the House, John Boehner called out Harry Knox, HRC’s Director of Faith and Religion who called the Catholic Church “immoral and insulting to Jesus” when it denied communion to a lesbian couple in Wyoming who had promoted same-sex marriage. “In this holy Lenten season, it is immoral and insulting to Jesus to use the body and blood of Christ the reconciler as a weapon to silence free speech and demean the love of a committed, legally married couple,” said Knox.

The faith component of scouting cannot be marginalized. Seven out of ten chartering organizations are churches. The values of scouting are consistent with the faith of its members. The founder of Scouting, Baden-Powell made it clear about the relationship between scouting and faith;   “We aim for the practice of Christianity in their everyday life and dealings, and not merely the profession of theology on Sundays… It does not come in at all. It is already there. It is a fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding...  People of faith believe that there must be limitations of conduct and that included sexual conduct such as homosexuality. Some may disagree but in America, the right to practice one's faith and right of conscious cannot be disregarded simply by the changing winds of culture. Does any reasonable person honestly believe that the change is consistent with the membership of scouting?

By allowing local troops to decide the policy, the national council will be abandoning each chartered organization to fight for their membership rules. It will invite frivolous litigation from the agenda groups and will bring chaos to the Boy Scouts of America due to conflicting membership standards. It would force those organizations such as churches to indirectly accept open homosexuality in the ranks as they would be obligated to accept the decision of other troops. This would be especially problematic at councils, their facilities and joint events. 

The policy change would conflict with the values of the membership, would create confusion, division and would invite further litigation. It will destroy scouting. Groups such as Baptists, Catholics, Church of Latter Day Saints, Methodists and those chartered to Veterans Organizations would be forced to leave the Boy Scouts of America. It is important to learn from the decision of Canadian scouts who abandoned their principles. Their membership declined by more then 50% and they were forced to close scout camps and facilities. Even so, the current membership policy does not require any member to disclose their private sexual orientation.

While controversial to those who refuse to acknowledge any link between child sexual abuse and homosexuality, there are studies that show a higher rate of sexual abuse by those with same sex attraction. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) came out with real research in 2008 which documented the high rates of sexual abuse among “men who have sex with men (MSM). In a chapter titled, “Childhood Sexual Abuse Experienced by Gay and Bisexual Men: Understanding the Disparities and Interventions to Help Eliminate Them,” the book which included 17 studies over a 15 year period concluded that homosexuals were three times more likely to be victims of sexual abuse then heterosexuals. The recent disclosure of once private BSA records detailing 60 years of sexual abuse reports found that the majority of those expelled from scouting on the suspicion of sexual abuse were men (five thousand). In a report commissioned by U.S. Catholic Bishops found that the overwhelming majority of sexual abuse cases involved homosexual priests who sexually abused adolescent boys, approximately 81%. While the majority of those with same sex attraction are unlikely to commit acts of sexual abuse, there is a higher percentage of those that do as compared to heterosexuals. Is it then unreasonable for parents to have a concern with open homosexual scouts masters or leaders?