BSA vote and the church statement

[PiperAlpha]

After the Boy Scout organization voted:

Quote:

Openly gay youths will be allowed to join scouting, a historic decision the Boy Scouts of America says will keep it unclouded by “a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue.”-Cnn.com

I saw the Church made the statement :

Quote:

Sexual orientation has not previously been—and is not now—a disqualifying factor for boys who want to join Latter-day Saint Scout troops. Willingness to abide by standards of behavior continues to be our compelling interest.-Lds.org

In my opinion, the church is handling it the right way on the top level.

I hope the local wards and leaders will also correctly handle the situation. So far, I have heard nothing discussed at my ward level, and I’m involved in the scouting program.

[Old-Timer]

I hope so, as well.

If not, it will be one more crystal clear example that even the most hardcore, conservative members are buffet Mormons every bit as much as the most extreme, liberal members.

[cwald]

I respect the church response. They will lose membership over this…much like they did in 1978.

If you doubt me, do a Google search for “Mike Tannihill”…one of LDS most known voices of reason within the bloggernacle and podcast community.

UNBELIEVABLE stuff.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[journeygirl]

What will they do when the gay youth grow up and want to still be a part of scouting? This decision doesn’t solve the issue.

[Old-Timer]

It actually does solve it for gay members who choose to remain celibate, since this decision doesn’t exclude gay adult leaders who are celibate. It doesn’t solve it for gay members who choose not to remain celibate, but those adults aren’t likely to be involved actively in the Church – unless gay marriage becomes the law of the land and the Church keeps the current wording of the endowment covenant (“legally and lawfully wedded”).

Frankly, I hope for the latter (maintaining the current wording and allowing married, monogamous gay couples to attend the temple, even if they can’t be sealed there). It will be interesting to see the next few decades, if I live long enough to have multiple decades left. At my age, that’s not a given.

[Roy]

journeygirl wrote:

What will they do when the gay youth grow up and want to still be a part of scouting? This decision doesn’t solve the issue.

small steps in the right direction should be celebrated even though they are small.

[journeygirl]

I didn’t realize they would allow celibate gays to be leaders. That’s good to know. Things have changed a lot recently, so it will be very interesting to see what happens as time goes on.

Roy, I am glad for this small step, it just seems like it will not be a solution for the long run. I am really glad they won’t prevent gay youth from participating. I actually took a survey about this for the BSA, and I wrote in a comment that to me it would be most important if they don’t ban the boys. So I am very glad they made that change. I just think it doesn’t send a consistent message.

[kristmace]

I’m not sure that with the current working of BSA policies that celibate gay adults would be allowed to be leaders if their orientation is publicly known.

[hawkgrrrl]

Baby steps. This will be like don’t ask don’t tell. A temporary measure until it’s fairly unanimous that the change is no big deal.

[Ann]

Roy wrote:

journeygirl wrote:

What will they do when the gay youth grow up and want to still be a part of scouting? This decision doesn’t solve the issue.

small steps in the right direction should be celebrated even though they are small.

Someone wrote elsewhere recently that when Elder Oaks visited her area, she had a moment to express how happy she was with the change. He apparently said something about receiving a lot of mail critcizing them for “caving in.” I thought that was an interesting little window in. I’ve never writtten a letter about anything, but think now that I probably should start.

[QuestionAbound]

I don’t really care if a boy or a man is gay.

But…I don’t want an openly gay (celibate or not) boy sharing a tent with my son.

So glad we are almost done with scouting.

And…no…as far as I can tell…openly gay men (celibate or not) are not permitted to work with scout troops (BSA guideline).

There is a disconnect there….gay boys can play, but gay men cannot.

[hawkgrrrl]

Leaders don’t share tents with the boys, and per BSA rules, leaders must always be 2 deep. Beside that, homosexuals are not pedophiles.

[Roy]

hawkgrrrl wrote:

Leaders don’t share tents with the boys, and per BSA rules, leaders must always be 2 deep. Beside that, homosexuals are not pedophiles.

I read an article about BSA sex abuse that was remarkably similar to the Catholic Church scandal. Leaders, families, and even law enforcement officials hushed it up for decades for the sake of the good name of scouting. To assume that because a particular scout leader is a religious, married man with children of his own then it is ok to trust your children to him would seem to be a recipe for disaster. The 2 adult deep and no sharing of tents rule was a lesson learned the hard way.

[Old-Timer]

Correct, Roy – and it’s instructive that the issue was with heterosexual and/or bisexual men.

[Author]

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