Boy Scouts Not Changing Membership Policy That Bans
Openly Gay Scouts and Scout Leaders
June 7, 2012
(CNSNews.com) -- The Boy Scouts of America will not reconsider its policy
banning openly gay boy scouts and scout leaders from participating in the
organization despite a recent online petition, signed by 275,000 people,
calling for a change in policy and a resolution calling for local Boy Scout
chapters to decide their
own membership policies.
“Contrary to media reports, the Boy Scouts of
America has no plans to change its membership policy. The introduction of a
resolution does not indicate the organization is ‘reviewing’ a policy or signal
a change in direction,” according to an official statement from the Boy Scouts
of America national office.
“The BSA is a voluntary, private organization that
sets policies that are best for the organization,” reads the statement.
“The BSA welcomes all who share its beliefs but does not criticize or
condemn those who wish to follow a different path.”
The resolution cited was submitted in April to the
national office by a member of the BSA voting board, asking the Boy Scouts of
America to allow local chapters to determine their own membership policies.
According to the bylaws of the BSA, any resolution,
regardless of subject matter, must be reviewed by committee. The national
office’s statement, however, makes clear that the BSA is not changing its
policy regarding openly gay scouts and scout leaders.
On a related note, in April,
Jennifer Tyrrell was removed from her post as denleader
of an Ohio Cub Scout troop because she is an openly active lesbian.
Following her removal, Tyrrell
started a petition for reinstatement with the
scouts on Change.org where it gained the support of Hollywood celebrities, such as
‘Hunger Games’ actor Josh Hutcherson and actress Julianne Moore.
Also, last week, Eagle Scout Zach Wahls from Iowa, who was
raised by two lesbians, delivered the petition with 275,000 signatures to the
national annual meeting of the Boy Scouts of America.
As a courtesy to Wahls and Tyrrell, the Boy Scouts
of America accepted the petition in a private meeting. The BSA maintains that
the resolution introduced in April and the petition are not related in any way.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth
About Homosexuality gave his “kudos to the Boy Scouts for not buckling” to the
demands of homosexual activists, and said the Change.org petition is another
example of the “aggressive” nature of activists to implement their
pro-homosexual agenda.
“I wish they would just leave the
Scouts alone,” LaBarbera told CNSNews.com. “They [homosexual activists]
have all the freedom in the world to form the
pro-gay Scouts, or the Gay Scouts.”
“I’m glad they’re [BSA] not considering
capitulating to the homosexual activists’ demands,” he said. “But if they ever
did consider it or if they ever moved in that direction, it would be an utter
travesty.”
This is not the first time the Boy Scouts of
America has been challenged on its membership policy. In June 2008,
the Supreme Court ruled in the Scouts’ favor protecting BSA’s constitutional
right to exclude members based on sexual orientation.
In the majority opinion, the late Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist wrote that freedom of association guaranteed in the First
Amendment meant thatthe state could not compel the Scouts to
admit members who strayed from the organizations’ “expressive message.”
The current BSA policy on sexual orientation reads as follows:
“While the BSA does not proactively inquire about the sexual orientation
of employees, volunteers, or members, we do not grant membership to members who
are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage in behavior that would become a
distraction to the mission of the BSA.”
