Teenage Boy Scout Denied Eagle Scout Because He's Gay

reply to post by AdaptationNation



its kind of sad you felt you had to keep secret your beliefs.

i mean at the end of the day, we can all say "its just a boy scout rank"
its not like you are being judged by your government and have a real reason to fear.

but one must wonder if and when it really DID matter, how open would you be :\

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


That's exactly what I meant.

Thank you

It's funny to see the homophobes come out to play. Although this is somewhat unrelated, a multi-tude of recent studies appear to show that those with higher levels of education and intellect tend to be more open to homosexual rights and more accomodating of the gay community than those who are less educated.

It just shows that the overall IQ of the ATS community is probably quite low. Most advanced western developed countries such as Australia, Canada and the Netherlands are far more open to homosexuality, even if it is not always binding in law. They are also far more open to other "liberal values". Is it no suprise that the standard of living and hapiness in these countries is far greater than in America? God Bless ya'll

As for the Boy Scouts, why be part of an organisation that openly discriminates against homosexuals. It seems to be installing chauvinistic and homophobic values at a young age. The entire organisation seems a little homosexual itself, why doesn't it's leadership just come out of the closet?

I like your style smyleegirl. i love that you can see that this kind of discrimination is wrong and i like the fact that you followed your complaint by proposing a solution instead of just ranting and leaving it at that. sadly i then read the comments posted here and realised that most of us are just scummy judgmental and cruel. from the moment i understood what sexual attraction was ive been gay. ive worked most of my adult life for charities mostly for disabled children but also as a.counsellor for a HIV charity. i think that makes me a decent person yet some people will just see the gay admission and see me instantly as evil the people who want to hold other people back because of their gender,race,sexuality etc. Will say and do anything to justify their hatred and they find lots of ignorant morons to follow and shout slogans behind them as you can see from some of your replies here. i think your solution is a better one dont try to change their rules because its just not worth it start a new group that is fully inclusive for everyone gay, straight, disabled, jewish,black, and all the other labels that make people more interesting. that would be a group that people could be truly proud to be part of.

Eta. excuse the terrible punctuation errors. i have a small phone and big thumbs its too hard to go bqck and fix them. ;0)

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


Not sure.

I usually try to research first before I post - - - but hubby was yelling at me to go to dinner.

Sorry - - - I should have just left it until I got back.

reply to post by detachedindividual


Dont give up on the site keep contributing and help swing it back into a site worth being part of again. there are some brilliant people on here and some delusional idiots. a lot of the hate filled threads in here make me feel sick and sad but the people with the smallest minds tend to have the biggest mouths and egos.

reply to post by Keeper of Kheb


Right ! They is always the GIRL SCOUTS !!

Thank planed parent hood

Homosexuality, Presidential candidates, and the Middle-East all stir up passions on ATS, but could we be looking at the wrong issue? There is an alternative explanation that fits the facts better. A blogger expresses it here: gregladen.com...

Ryan Andresen was bullied and harassed as a gay teenager, and became an anti-bullying activist, and the Boy Scouts are anti-gay and his being gay may be one of the main reasons he is not being allowed to become an Eagle scout. But, he and his scout leader had already talked about his sexual orientation, and Ryan was told “We’ll get by the gay thing” when it came to his elevation the Eagle status. But, when the final forms were being filled out, Ryan refused to check off the box saying that he agreed to the principle of “Duty to God.”

Here we have the claim that the Boy Scouts were repressing this young man because he’s gay, and we have a petition that is adding dozens of names a minute, passing the quarter million mark as I write this, but in reality, a key reason, maybe THE key reason, that Ryan is not able to go Eagle is because he is some sort of Atheist or Agnostic or other form of non-believer.

I keep hearing this reference to "Duty to God" as being the point of contention in this dispute.

My question is: Whose god goes he have a duty to? The god with whom his personal faith lies, or the "officially sanctioned god of the Boy Scouts of America?" If the latter, exactly which religion would that be? Does being an active member of a church that teaches acceptance of gays not qualify as duty to god?

reply to post by ~Vixen~

I'm not sure you're being entirely forthright. In this thread you keep hearing about "Duty to God?" It's certainly seemed to be pretty well centered on the gay question to me. But leaving that aside for a moment, here's part of what Wiki has to say about the Scout Oath:

In order to accommodate many different religions within Scouting, "God" may refer to a higher power, and is not specifically restricted to the God of the monotheistic religions. The WOSM Constitution explains "Duty to God" as "Adherence to spiritual principles, loyalty to the religion that expresses them and acceptance of the duties resulting therefrom."

If he can't promise to do his duty to "God" as that is understood, he does have a problem.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


Just because that institution has the right to discrimminate against gays, to turn down the award this boy worked so hard based on his sexual preferences, does not mean it's the right or justified thing to do. The OP is not disputing the right of this organization in doing what it did or that of this leader, it's about how unjustified it is. Instead of hiding behind the "legal rights" of this institution that nobody is questioning, why don't you actually make a stand and explain to us how this boy being gay affects yours or anybody elses life? If you were that leader, would you refuse to award the boy based on his sexual orientation too?

Again, stop hiding behind "legal rights" because this isn't the argument of the OP.

Originally posted by charles1952
reply to post by ~Vixen~

 

I'm not sure you're being entirely forthright. In this thread you keep hearing about "Duty to God?" It's certainly seemed to be pretty well centered on the gay question to me. But leaving that aside for a moment, here's part of what Wiki has to say about the Scout Oath:

In order to accommodate many different religions within Scouting, "God" may refer to a higher power, and is not specifically restricted to the God of the monotheistic religions. The WOSM Constitution explains "Duty to God" as "Adherence to spiritual principles, loyalty to the religion that expresses them and acceptance of the duties resulting therefrom."

If he can't promise to do his duty to "God" as that is understood, he does have a problem.

My question remains: WHOSE GOD?

Some christian religions paint being gay as an unacceptable sin. Other christian denominations are accepting. If he belongs to a denomination that says that being gay is a natural part of life, and he knows within his heart that he is being true to himself and his belief in accordance with the aforementioned teachings of his chosen religion, then he IS fulfilling his duty to god. His god.

reply to post by smyleegrl


as the article cites it as the sole reason - exactly what is an eagle scouts " duty to god " ?

reply to post by smyleegrl


How would a 17 yr old know what they are. Get real. I know for sure they're idealistic at 17, that I could see. So they think they're gay when they're probably not even. And with so many pedofiles running those troops how do we know he wasn't raped by some former scout leader. Like this happens! There's been like 1000's of reported cases, look it up! It's really sad.

reply to post by smyleegrl

"This scout proactively notified his unit leadership and Eagle Scout counselor that he does not agree to scouting's principle of 'Duty to God' and does not meet scouting's membership standard on sexual orientation," Deron Smith, a spokesman for the organization said in a statement. "Agreeing to do one's 'Duty to God' is a part of the scout Oath and Law and a requirement of achieving the Eagle Scout rank."

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

The kid knew that "belief in God" was a requirement for the rank of Eagle Scout, but chose to deny that core tenet of the organization, so right there he fails to meet the standard set for an Eagle Scout. Can you imagine a church ordaining an agnostic so they can be PC? Same thing.

He may have done the work, but he doesn't have what it takes to be an Eagle Scout. Maybe he can join the Rainbow Girls.

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

The kid knew that "belief in God" was a requirement for the rank of Eagle Scout, but chose to deny that core tenet of the organization, so right there he fails to meet the standard set for an Eagle Scout. Can you imagine a church ordaining an agnostic so they can be PC? Same thing.

He may have done the work, but he doesn't have what it takes to be an Eagle Scout. Maybe he can join the Rainbow Girls.

Since when did being gay mean that they have no belief in god? That's not the issue, the issue is that he doesn't believe in THEIR god. If the BSA is going to require that one adhere to the beliefs of, say, the Mormon church, they should specify that as an up front prerequisite rather than raise the issue 12 years later.

Originally posted by TTAA2012

The kid knew that "belief in God" was a requirement for the rank of Eagle Scout, but chose to deny that core tenet of the organization, so right there he fails to meet the standard set for an Eagle Scout.

The kid believes in God. He states that.

What does "Duty to God" mean?

OK - - now this makes sense. Apparently "Duty to God" means you can't be gay.

The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday said that they had denied a gay California teen Eagle Scout honors because he had not lived up to the principle of “duty to God” with his sexual orientation.

www.rawstory.com...

so thinking the private club should be allowed to discriminate makes a person a homophobe?
even if you dont agree with their beliefs?

but.... freedom? i mean, arent we supposed to want freedoms?

if you dont agree with a person's beliefs, it means they shouldnt be allowed to do so?

everyone has a cake and can eat it as well. and when both sides of the debate does so, we have no world peace.
tolerance =/= acceptance, no one is asking you to like the boy scouts.

Pathetic thread for a conspiracy and alternative news site, for God's sake.
Sorry.

Every time I come here one of these lesbian or gay threads is at the top, or Obama or Romney, wtf is this MSM part deux??