Congratulations to the Boy Scouts for coming part of the way towards inclusiveness, and may they continue the journey. Before this week, openly gay boys and men could neither be scouts nor leaders. They have now allowed openly gay boys to be scouts. But they did not put the prohibition as to leaders to a vote.

I have not read the organization’s asserted justification, but I would imagine the prohibition on openly gay men as leaders in the Boy Scouts to be based on two arguments, neither of which hold water. First, it is the duty of an
organization serving youth to keep from leadership roles any who may have sexual designs on the youth. That is true, but irrelevant: gay men as a whole pose no special risk to children. A recent summary of the research concludes "The mainstream view among researchers and professionals who work in the area of child sexual abuse is that homosexual and bisexual men do not pose any special threat to children." http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html

The second argument is that gay men are bad role models. But if what we are trying to model is diversity, a diversity of role models is good. The gay teenager who is a scout will be well served by a gay scoutmaster, and the straight teens will learn that gay leaders are as entitled to respect as are straight men. In short, openly gay scout leaders will move forward an acceptance of gay men in society. Gay men and lesbians are now accepted in all branches of the US military, and the scouts can ill afford to be out of step with the armed services.

Many UU churches which are Welcoming Congregations to LGBTQ folks refuse to have a scout troop associated with the church because scouts have not been so welcoming.  Perhaps that will change with the change in scouting.  However, there is another stumbling block: Boy Scouts have refused to allow atheist scouts or leaders, and I have heard nothing of moves to change that policy, a policy which conflicts with UU values at least as deeply as the one based on sexual orientation.  

Come on, scouts, do the right thing! The Girl Scouts accepted lesbian scouts and leaders long ago, and allow girls of different theological orientations; it works very well for them. Be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent, and inclusive!

Blessings,

Edmund