By Stuart Smith
Impunity Watch, North America
WASHINGTON, United States — Although Scouts for Equality isn’t the first group to challenge the Boy Scouts of America 102-year long policy banning gay Scouts and troop leaders, it is the first group composed entirely of Eagle Scouts to do so.
“Scouts for Equality will lead a respectful, honest dialogue with current and former Scouts and Scout leaders about ending this outdated policy,” says Scouts for Equality. Zach Wahls is the group’s co-founder and an Eagle Scout from Iowa with lesbian mothers. “When I was earning my Citizenship in the Community merit badge, I learned the importance of standing up for what you believe to be right,” he wrote on the group’s website.
And, recently reported the L.A. Times, he did just that. Wahls helped spearhead a petition aimed at ending the BSA’s ban. The resolution, presented last week at the group’s national annual meeting, proposed to allow each Scouting’s charted group to determine whether or not they will accept gay Scouts and leaders.
The organization, according to Time, in a statement released June 7, 2012, reiterated its support for the ban: “While the BSA 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 BSA.”
“While we’ll carefully consider the resolution, there are no plans to change this policy,” said Boy Scouts of America spokesman Devon Smith, remarking that similar resolutions and petitions challenging the ban occurred as early as 2000, when the Supreme Court upheld the discriminatory policy, reported MSNBC. The Scouts also maintain a long-standing tradition of excluding atheists and agnostics from their membership rolls, according to the Associated Press.
“Up to the day they end this policy, they’ll be saying they have no plans to do so,” said Wahls in an interview with the AP, but, he said, the ban is having a negative impact on membership and public support. If the resolution fails to pass, Wahls plans to file a lawsuit.
The petition originated when Jennifer Tyrrell was fired in April from her volunteer position as a Cub Scout leader because she is a lesbian, reported the L.A. Times. The only discussion of Tyrrell’s sexual orientation happened when some of the children of her Tiger Scout troop asked why her partner was a woman, she answered that her son had two moms.
“This isn’t about my sexuality; this isn’t about anybody’s sexuality,” Tyrrell told CNN. “It’s about teaching children to be better adults, and we aren’t doing that by teaching them to hate or discriminate.”
For further information, please see:
MSNBC – Boy Scouts review controversial anti-gay policy – 12 June 2012
L.A. Times – Boy Scouts’ ban gays is fought from the inside – 8 June 2012
CNN – Boy Scouts to study ban on gay leaders — 7 June 2012
Time – Will the Boy Scouts Reverse Its Anti-Gay Policy? – 7 June 2012
Scouts for Equality Website – Our Message
