Here's what I cribbed from
BSA's website about chartering organizations:
Quote:
The Boy Scouts of America makes Scouting available to our nation’s youth by chartering community organizations to organize and operate Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, Varsity Scout teams, Venturing crews and Sea Scout ships for boys and young men and women. These chartered organizations manage the units and control the program of activities to support their goals and objectives. When community organizations establish a new unit, they must take these two important actions to ensure a quality Scouting program:
1. Select leadership.
The head of the chartered organization appoints a chartered organization representative to provide leadership in the selection of a unit committee of parents and organization members that will provide overall supervision for
the unit’s program. The committee selects the adult unit leaders who will work with the youth. The chartered organization representative also is a voting member of the local council and may serve as a member of the district committee.
2. Provide a meeting place and promote a good program.
The chartered organization arranges for appropriate meeting facilities for the unit and promotes through its committee the full use of the program, including outdoor experiences, advancement, recognitions, and, in particular, Scouting’s values.
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OUR unit, Troop and Crew 100, is chartered by "The Parents Club" (I might be missing the name a little bit, sorry). Basically, the parents of the scouts in the troop have come together and created the charter them/ourselves. We have a Chartered Organization Representative, and that person is key in creating the other moving pieces as the quote describes. In practice, it is the parents that organize the business end of the troop and the troop's activities like rent on a meeting space, planning fundraisers, etc. As for the operation of the troop, that falls to the scouting leadership and to the boys and girls themselves.
Your question about how is a rule like the one recently reversed enforced is a good one and your instincts are correct. It's impossible to enforce unless both sides get publicly dug in about their respective positions.
Here in Seattle, there was a church that chartered a troop that refused to dismiss an openly gay scout leader last year. The BSA revoked the church's charter, effectively ending the troop. Some key facts in this ugly episode was the public knowledge of the leader's sexuality, the church's refusal to dismiss him, and some unknown (to me) butthurt parent that complained. I find it difficult to express clearly how the rule is stupid beyond "homophobia is stupid". In an explicitly declared situation like the one linked to above, it's easy to see how the (stupid) wheels would turn. But absent such a declaration by a gay leader, enforcement would seem to fall into the witch hunt/spanish inquisition territory. That's bullshit.
glatt and Happy Monkey's remarks about accepting help from those willing to give it are true in my experience too. And I sincerely believe that "the gay" has fuckall to do with the quality of a youth leader. Homosexuality isn't taught, it's not contagious, it's not an indicator of pedophilia, none of that bullshit. Being gay doesn't make or break a good leader, it's irrelevant, just as heterosexuality is irrelevant. The rule was irrelevant, except when it interfered with units trying to provide a quality program for young people and stupid people invoked this stupid rule.