The national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America has announced it discussing ending the national exclusion of homosexuals from the Boy Scouts.
Some corporations have discontinued donations to the national scouts because of the ban on homosexuals.
The national office claims that it would never require local units to accept gays; it would be entirely a matter for local decisions.
I think lifting the ban is a bad idea; but more importantly the national office of the Boys Scouts is being very dishonest and, dare we say, Jesuitical.
My four sons were in scouts; three are Eagle Scouts. I was a scoutmaster for many years and a member of the Baltimore Area Council. My family helped endow a position for Special Needs scouts.
My substantive objections:
There may be no connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, but there is strong historical evidence that there is a connection between homosexuality and pederasty. There may be many types of homosexuals, but at least one type fits Freud’s analysis of homosexuality as a form of narcissism. This homosexual is in love with a younger, idealized version of himself.
As part of our training we leaders were constantly cautioned not to forget that the scouts were children. They might be six feet tall and look like adults, but they were children, and could not assume adult responsibilities. When a leader saw a scout who looked like a young man, he would be tempted to give him responsibilities that should be limited to adults. Puberty comes earlier for boys than it to, and may are fully sexually mature at an early age.
A homosexual scout leader would be like a male Girl Scout leader – not a good idea.
Scouting, specially camping, necessarily involves physical intimacy, even if everyone is trying to be modest. Did you know that ticks love to go to the pubic area? We had to remove ticks from extremely delicate positions. When climbing there cannot be the slightest hesitancy about grabbing someone who is slipping. A homosexual leader’s actions could easily be misconstrued.
And some churches do not think that a homosexual is a good role model.
But turning to the national office:
When the Supreme Court decided 5-4 that the Boy Scouts could exclude homosexuals, it was based on the BSA’s contention that the exclusion was part of its core mission.
If the national office announces that the exclusion of homosexuals is not part of its core mission, that defense is rendered invalid, not only for the national office but for all subdivisions and troops.
No, the national office would never require troops to accept homosexual leaders – it wouldn’t have to. Lawyers will go after any division of the scouts that still excludes gays, and the division will have not have the defense that the exclusion is part of the BSA central mission, nor will the local units have the financial and legal resources of the national office.
I disagree with the national office, but I am even more disappointed in their dishonesty in pretending that they are not in effect requiring all troops to accept homosexual leaders, no matter what moral, religious, or practical objections the troop may have.
And all this for the sake of corporate donations.
As a former Jesuit-trained college graduate student and Boy Scout, I agree with you, Leon. When I taught special needs children in Zuni Pueblo, one of my students was gay and belonged to a family/clan that regularly provided male kachina dancers who dressed in female garb. The homosexual/ transexuals were considered especially “sacred” and were accepted by the rest of the Zunis. I have friends who are gay but I still would hesitate to have any of my young nephews or cousins be in a troop with a gay Scout Master.
It is OK to be gay BUT do not announce it to the young boys! Boy Scouts should be learning aout Nature and the Woods and has NOTHING to do with learning about homosexuality! Developing young boys to be moral and respected adult men is the goal of the whole scouting thing!
Our nation has been slipping down a very dangerous slope for the past three decades . The abused oft repeat the abuse on younger boys and I am saddened to say that I know of several cases personally.While not all of the homosexually inclined are predatious , the fact is that many are. So much for the touted morality behind wholesome Scouting.
Next they will pass a Bill lowering the age of consent. It was troubling to hear the Boy Scout story on the News but equally as depressing to see the billboards advertising adulterous affairs for men with younger women for an internet dating business. The local Newscasters followed it up with the information that 400 girls had signed on in the hopes of making money to pay off their college loans in our tri state area. Relocating to another nation is becoming more appealing every time we turn on the News.
I think the promotion of homosexuality is similar to that of narcotics, both of which came into great force during the 1960s as part of the destabilization of Western society. Societal elites promote vice in order to make citizens into deviants so that the latter more easily can be manipulated and controlled. These themes are detailed in E. Michael Jones’ book Libido Dominani, which I am going to read in the near future. I think the greatest threat to the “homosexual agenda” will come from homosexuals, however they’re defined, who speak out against their own lifestyle and tell people why they behave the way they do. Corporate support for the homosexual movement is nothing new. Fr. Enrique Rueda details it in his book The Homosexual Network from 1982.
You hit the nail on the head Leon when you said a man would never be made the leader of teenage girl scouts. Can anyone out there imagine allowing their nubile teen daughters to share tents with adult males? I don’t think so!
Everyone recognizes that in close quarters it would be quite normal for a man to experience sexual attraction to a girl who was physically mature.
Homosexual men are similarly bound to find handsome teenage boys attractive. For them to be in close quarters with such young men would be as heady and dangerous as for their heterosexual counterparts to be in close proximity to young women.
Any number of adults, both heterosexual and homosexual, have admitted to me that they have found particular teenagers attractive (obviously the average well adjusted adult does not act on this attraction). Why can’t the politically correct crowd see what is so clear a human reality?
Just a PS
The average well adjusted adult doesn’t act on attractions towards teens in part because they avoid compromising situations where something could happen.
Even when I was in high school male teachers kept their doors open when alone with female students, and adult men in general became more circumspect in showing affection towards young female relatives and friends.
Leon, another factor is how homosexuality is being marketed, and I mean that in the term’s fullest extent. The focus is on discrimination, not on societal consequences. That focus is designed to equate gay rights with civil rights for minorities, while ignoring the fact that sexual proclivities aren’t based on race or ethnicity.
We live in an age that defines reality as personal, individual perception. If that’s the case, then marketing become the ultimate means to persuade, not logic or ethics.