Teenage Boy Scout Denied Eagle Scout Because He's Gay

My sons were never in the boy scouts because of this reason.
We taught freedom in my household, freedom to be who you are and what you are.
I remember it being brought up once that the boys wanted to join, and both my x and I looked at each other and then sat them down to explain something we had avoided until some issue came up.
Some people are still living in the dark ages, and until they can come out and drop the bigotry under the disguise of religion, there would be no boy scouts, and honestly, that is to bad, because I was a boy scout, and I learned a lot from it.

People are free to believe whatever they want in the USA, to be whoever they want, to become whatever they can become. It is rules that hold down certain parts of the population that help to spread hatred, it is way beyond a simple matter of religion, even if people won't admit it. I see it every day, because of color, sexual preference, religious beliefs,smokers, the list could go on and on and the only way to fix it is to give equality to ALL.

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.

A Scout is:

Trustworthy,
Loyal,
Helpful,
Friendly,
Courteous,
Kind,
Obedient,
Cheerful,
Thrifty,
Brave,
Clean,
and Reverent.

Come out of the dark ages and let people be free to be who they are.
I really don't think God cares if you are straight or gay,
the homophobic will say otherwise though and hide under religion.
And there are a lot of them.

IMO

Originally posted by smyleegrl
reply to post by r2d246

 

I hope you are being facetious...

Well I have this theory. It goes like this. The only way someone becomes gay is by recruitment as they can't reproduce there ranks. So I think often how that happens is a gay will impose themselves on some other same sex victim. Like I heard with stuff like alterboys or scouts or coaches, the kids hold the leader in very high esteem. So if the leader one day starts hitting on and or molesting the kid they might go along with it as they don't want to offend there leader. Look it up! I'm not making this up. This happens all all day everyday! And gays seems to have this thing for both straight and virgins, as it's the corruption of innocence that's there thrill in some perverted way. Anyway I hate talking about gays, so that's all I'm gonna say. I'm already getting sick! ewhhh!

Originally posted by Darkblade71
My sons were never in the boy scouts because of this reason.
We taught freedom in my household, freedom to be who you are and what you are.

I agree with you. I know I pulled my daughters out of something because of bigotry - - just can't remember exactly what it was.

However - - there have been gays in the boy scouts - - and gay parents/leaders.

This is all about Fundamentalists trying to stop the Gay Rights movement. These are the same people trying to stop gays from the right to marry.

Originally posted by r2d246

Originally posted by smyleegrl
reply to post by r2d246

 

I hope you are being facetious...

Well I have this theory. It goes like this. The only way someone becomes gay is by recruitment as they can't reproduce there ranks. So I think often how that happens is a gay will impose themselves on some other same sex victim. Like I heard with stuff like alterboys or scouts or coaches, the kids hold the leader in very high esteem. So if the leader one day starts hitting on and or molesting the kid they might go along with it as they don't want to offend there leader. Look it up! I'm not making this up. This happens all all day everyday! And gays seems to have this thing for both straight and virgins, as it's the corruption of innocence that's there thrill in some perverted way. Anyway I hate talking about gays, so that's all I'm gonna say. I'm already getting sick! ewhhh!

The ignorance is shocking.

_______________________

Boy Scouts is a social group for male bonding, thus it's a no
brainier that gays would disrupt certain situations and make
things difficult eg. : use of urinals, would it be wise for
an adult gay Scout to use common urinals with same sex minors ?
Are parents o.k. with that arrangement ? I think not, nor would it be
a comfortable situation for any gay person.
. . . on the other hand having gay males in Girl Scouts would work except
for the fact that girl bonding would be confusing for some.
Fact is that gays have special needs of their own, and their own
social requirements. Thus need their own independent group, instead of
trying to mold other social groups to gay needs.

_____________________

reply to post by EarthCitizen23


Your right, and so is the last person who replied to me... If they let him get this far and then take the badge away, its kind of a slap in the face n makes you wonder who's decision it was n why they even thought it was an issue.... But if they had an anti-gay policy in the first place, how did he get that far ? IDK.... People are weird....

Originally posted by ToneDeaf
_______________________

Boy Scouts is a social group for male bonding, thus it's a no
brainier that gays would disrupt certain situations and make
things difficult eg. : use of urinals, would it be wise for
an adult gay Scout to use common urinals with same sex minors ?
Are parents o.k. with that arrangement ? I think not, nor would it be
a comfortable situation for the gay person.
. . . on the other hand having gay males in Girl Scouts would work except
for the fact that girl bonding would be confusing for some.
Fact is that gays have special needs of their own, and their own
social requirements. Instead of molding others to their needs they should
just have 'bonding' clubs etc.
_____________________

I agree with that but y did they let him get to eagle scout or whatever it was. If he was just now joining and they refused i can see that.... but thats not the case

Special mentions of Jay-morris and detatachedindividual who hit the nail on the head a couple of times in this thread.

Originally posted by milkyway12
reply to post by detachedindividual

 

Courts also agree with me. The KKK can gather in public places and at schools. So racism cant be that bad if the courts permit racist sects to gather at public events and schools.

The court doesn't endorse racism. The court agreed to protect hate speech as free speech because limiting speech, thought, or ideas creates a dangerous precedent.

The court allowing morons and people who are wrong to speak does not change their moron or 'wrong' status. It also doesn't factor into this issue.

Originally posted by DanaKatherineScully
From what i have read here & on the linked site is that the Scouts are funded privately by religious groups, predominantly Catholic & Christian groups thus it can basically do what it wants.

The Scouts have received the support of the armed forces, the police, the fire service, the navy, the dept of housing and urban development, the presidency etc ... They are also in some states which allow the scouts to use public school facilities after hours without fees under the Civic Center Act which is specifically not offered to religious groups. They are also allowed to recruit in public schools. Some of the above has changed here and there and some police departments have pulled support etc from the scouts and rightfully so.

Membership in the Eagle Scouts also assists in military promotion when joining the armed forces. The American DoD is not a private organization at all, so why is that happening? There are rules in the military which are meant to prevent this type of support of this type of organization.

Originally posted by TTAA2012
I'm sick of progressives thinking that they can just waltz in and change the rules because someone's feelings might get hurt or be excluded

Read above. My flying spaghetti monster atheist explorer party doesn't receive government assistance, why should the scouts?

Should the local band of satanists be invited to recruit in public schools, get automatic promotions in the military, and be given logistical support of government bodies? What if their members leave with amazing leadership skills and accuracy with AR-15 assault rifles? Does that make it okay?

And for the record, the vast majority of homosexual and atheist 'progressives' spend around 0 hours trying to be admitted into Sunday school meetings or joining churches. Sure, persons exist who might do this but I think your statement is vastly exaggerating the number of people that care or pursue these types of goals.

Ergo this:

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
AFAIK, homosexuality is a choice.

Has nothing to do with anything the Scouts do.

The moment the DoD and other organizations withdraw all support from the Scouts it becomes a non-issue. You wouldn't be pleased if Atheists started a 'Enlightened Thinking Scout Society' and prevented religious people from joining and received DoD support I imagine. What if they then recruited your children in a public school? Why are you okay with the Scouts doing this?

Probably because it supports your particular belief system?

Originally posted by dayve
reply to post by detachedindividual

 

I never said i deserve more rights than a gay person, thats like saying i have more rights than a jewish person... Its no different than a religion in my book.... And no i dont talk to my gay friends about that stuff because they keep it to them self... I know three couples, who are married, they are affectionate in public and thats fine... But they dont throw it in peoples face, or get mad when people disagree, they dont give a ****.... Y would a teenage boy need to make it known to his boyscouts that he is gay....? Knowing he is gonna ruffle feathers.... You know they didn't ask him out of the blue.

You are saying that you deserve more rights than a gay person, because you are demanding that gay people not be able to have the same rights as a straight person! You can't claim one thing in one sentence and then claim the complete opposite in the next.

You've agreed that he should be thrown out, that he should have shut up about his sexuality. That means that you think gay people do not deserve the same rights as straight people. A straight teen would not have been thrown out, a straight person can be affectionate in public, what you are suggesting is that gay people are "throwing it in your face" if they are open about their own sexuality or want to kiss their partner in public.

How can you not see the hypocrisy of your own statement?

If you say that gay people should keep quiet, lie, hide, or that it's okay that they are treated differently in certain circumstances, then you ARE saying that they deserve fewer rights and freedoms than you!

I'm gonna say it - it's true that a low IQ seems to follow racism and homophobia. I shouldn't be surprised that someone with homophobic views also happens to be completely unable to recognize their own conflicting opinions and hypocrisy.

I don't like the word ' gay ' . Nobody is born Gay or Lesbian . If someone thinks he/she is gay , should change their gender through surgery/medical therapy .

reply to post by Octagon


WTF ????????????

please tell us you are not serious - are you really incapable of difrentiating between sexual orientation and gender identity ?

DUTY TO GOD

In accordance with the principles of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, Scouting was supposed to overcome religious and class differences. He wrote, "The religion of a man is not the creed he professes but his life — what he acts upon, and knows of life, and his duty in it. A bad man who believes in a creed is no more religious than the good man who does not."

The "Duty to God" slogan was regarded liberally, and Scouting movements in several countries dispensed with it, notably Denmark in 1910. However, the Boy Scouts of America, fresh from the achievement of its federal monopoly, adopted a constitution in 1916 whose article III specified, "The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no boy can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing his obligation to God." The scout laws — simple slogans memorized by the boys — are different in each country. In the United States, a twelfth Scout Law was added, "A Scout Is Reverent." There is no such law in British scouting, organized according to the wishes of Baden-Powell.

All American Scout leaders are required to subscribe to a Declaration of Religious Principles — agreeing to the religious test of the constitution. I have found no evidence that this test was actually applied in the early BSA to exclude individual atheist Scouts, but the BSA claimed in 1935 (perhaps as a boast to religious authorities) that it had excluded "several hundred" adult leaders who failed to acknowledge God.

www.thehumanist.org...

GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF BOY SCOUTS

Taxpayer Dollars

Though no level of government directly funds the operating budget of the BSA, member and unit sponsors paid fees that amounted in 1993 to $56.8 million out of a total budget of $115 million. In addition, supply operations garnered $18.4 million, and magazine publications another $3.7 million. Income from these sources would likely be greatly reduced if the BSA were not a federally protected monopoly. You can even be arrested for selling your own "scout souvenirs" without authorization.

The 355 local councils of the Boy Scouts have separate budgets which are more directly dependent on community and corporate donations. Approximately one third of the 1993 aggregate total for local councils came from local United Way organizations. Recently, however, United Way support has been reduced or cut off completely in some areas. The United Way cut funding to the Los Angeles Council of the BSA by 52 percent in 1993.

The BSA maintains statistical data on membership and unit (pack, troop and, post) growth. For years, detailed breakdowns of unit sponsorship were printed in the annual reports filed with Congress.

www.thehumanist.org...

Margaret Downey writes in the Fall 2000 issue of Free Inquiry:

By getting itself declared "private," the BSA has defeated the rationale for it to have public support, government gratuities, and a congressional charter. Nor will it be legitimate for BSA to receive money from United Way's unallocated fund, or to go into public schools to recruit, or to be given military and other government gratuities. BSA will have to rely on private donations exclusively. This will work against the troops and the boys.

Prejudiced zealots have seized control of BSA and will destroy all that has been good with their fear and loathing toward the gay and nontheist community. ... Recently BSA ruled that Unitarian Scouts will no longer be eligible to receive religious emblems. Unitarian rules do not fall in line with BSA's selective membership policy. Unitarians are too tolerant and too sympathetic toward gays, girls, and the godless.

atheism.about.com...

reply to post by Annee


Sickening. Truly sickening. BSA was supposed to be a symbol of teaching young men to become responsible and productive members of society - instead, they are being conditioned like little soldiers of false virtue.

So much potential, lost to so much corruption. Is there nothing we can do about this? BSA is a privately own establishment now, obviously, but perhaps a new one can be started? A nonprejudiced and roundly educated one? Seems like the best kind of middle finger, to me.

Originally posted by Keeper of Kheb
good for the boy scouts of america standing up for principles and moral values. God Bless them!

Standing up for principals and moral values? The bus driver yelling at Rosa Parks to get to the back of the bus,thought he was doing just that, my friend..... You bless such bigotry and hatred and fear all you want... I prefer progress.

There is nothing immoral about sexual orientation. But there is plenty immoral about discrimination, bigotry and hatred. That's what you are blessing. You are blessing their discriminating against a person because of their sexual orientation.


It's time the Boy Scouts get over that nonsense. Time to lose the 1946 attitude and step into 2012.

I bet you think gay people choose to be gay.

If so, that's funny,because I don't remember ever sitting down and weighing the pro's and con's of being straight and deciding to be straight. It just happened.

How about you? I would LOVE to hear the story of the time when you were a child, after you chose to start puberty and decided you had to figure out if you wanted to be gay or straight. How did you go about weighing the pro's and con's of being straight vs gay? How did you come to the decision you did?

What's that? You didn't choose? It just happened? It's like that for everyone... Gay people don't choose any more than straight people do.

What the Boy Scouts are doing is called "Discrimination" and THAT is immoral as well as illegal in most other places here in the US...For good reason. Discrimination serves to divide us and hurt us all. In a land made by the people for the people, what right do you, I or anyone else have to exclude people from what they have earned just because of their sexual orientation? NONE.

Where is the line drawn? Should he be stopped from graduating high school for being gay?Should he be denied a job because he is gay? Should he not be allowed to marry because he is gay? Should he not be allowed to adopt a kid?

Where do you draw the line on your discrimination?

discrimination
  Use Discrimination in a sentence Origin
dis·crim·i·na·tion
   [dih-skrim-uh-ney-shuhn] Show IPA
noun
1.
an act or instance of discriminating.
2.
treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.
3.
the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.
4.
Archaic . something that serves to differentiate.

reply to post by Jay-morris


What about that,formerlygay,lady AnneHeche? She said she was gay, but nolonger and she married a man.

Seems like a CHOICE!