Scouts get pwned

[glatt]

Baby steps. I can see this working and I support it as a step in the right direction.

But it's wrong on its face. If the fear is that somebody who is attracted to men might also be attracted to boys, and therefore shouldn't be allowed to be a leader, then why are women allowed to be leaders? Most women are attracted to men. If being attracted to men means you are also attracted to boys, then aren't moms also a huge risk to the organization? It's nonsense.

Besides, they have a tough policy that's been in place for years that says that no adults can be alone with a scout unless they are a parent. Following that policy means that nobody has a chance to molest a scout.

If there is a concern with having gays in scouts it would be that a gay scout gets to sleep side by side in a 2 man tent with a straight scout. Or even 2 gay scouts together. We probably wouldn't put a 17 year old girl in a tent next to a 17 year old boy without a chaperone. When openly gay scouts are admitted into a troop, I think leaders need to be aware of the situation and pay attention to sleeping arrangements. I'm not sure how to handle that. If there's only one gay scout, it's not fair to make them sleep by themselves. Maybe three in a tent is best. I'm not sure about that.

Here is the current policy for youth protection in scouts.

•
Two-deep leadership.
Two registered adult
leaders or one registered adult leader and a
parent of a participant, one of whom must be
21 years of age or older, are required on all
trips and outings. The chartered organization
is responsible for ensuring that sufficient
leadership is provided for all activities. This
requirement applies to all the activities of
the Order of the Arrow as well as
provisional unit activities.
•
No one-on-one contact.
One on one contact
between adults and youth members is not
permitted. In situations that require personal
conferences, such as a Scoutmasters
conference, the meeting is to be conducted
in view of other adults and youths.
Respect of privacy.
Adult leadership needs to
respect the privacy of youth members in situations
such as changing into swimming suits or taking
showers at camp and intrude only to the extent
that health and safety requires. They also need to
protect their own privacy in similar situations.
•
Separate accommodations.
When camping, no youth is permitted to sleep in the tent of an adult
other than his own parent or guardian. Councils
are strongly encouraged to have separate shower
and latrine facilities for females and when separate
facilities are not available, times for male and
female use should be scheduled and posted for
showers.
•
Proper preparation for High-adventure
activities.
Activities with elements of risk should
never be undertaken without proper preparation,
equipment, clothing, supervision, and safety
measures.
•
No secret organizations.
There are no “secret”
organizations recognized by the Boy Scouts of
America. All aspects of the scouting program are
open to observation by parents and leaders.
•
Appropriate attire.
Proper clothing for activities
is required- for example, skinny-dipping is not
appropriate as part of Scouting.
•
Constructive discipline.
Discipline used in
Scouting should be constructive and reflect
Scouting’s values. Corporal punishment is never
permitted.
•
Hazing prohibited.
Physical hazing and
initiations are prohibited and may not be included
as part of any Scouting activity
•
Junior leader training and supervision.
Adult leaders must monitor and guide the
leadership techniques used by junior leaders
and see that BSA policies are followed.

[Lamplighter]

For my post above, I did not go into "unforeseen consequences" or "hidden agendas".

The first "unforseen" that came to my mind was a drifting segregation
into troops/packs of straight and gay boys, with all the negatives that can generate.

The "hiddens" are hidden, but I strongly suspect the the religious organizations
their support of BSA will be quite opposed to activities or literature
demonstrating that gay (adoptive) parents can be as good role models as straight parents,
and how will a boy explain to others and himself that his Dad is not good enough to be a leader or volunteer ?

Over the past few days, I've come to the opinion this "new" policy
of the BSA reeks of old and new pathways to discrimination, belittling, and harm.

[Lamplighter]

This looks like either finally a court case, or finally some sanity in the BSofA


With Hire, Boy Scouts Affiliate in New York Defies Ban on Gays
NY Times - JAMES BARRONAPRIL 2, 2015

Taking the first step toward a possible face-off over the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on openly gay adult members or employees,
the organization’s New York affiliate said on Thursday that it had hired a gay Eagle Scout to work in a scout camp this summer.

The New York group, the Boy Scouts’ Greater New York Councils, announced the hiring of Pascal Tessier, an 18-year-old Eagle Scout
who grew up in Kensington, Md., and is now a student at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.
He became a prominent figure among those speaking out against the ban on gay people over 18 in scouting.

“We’ve had an antidiscrimination policy for a very, very long time,” said Richard G. Mason, a board member of the Greater New York Councils,
the local umbrella group for Boy Scouts in the city’s five boroughs.

<snip>

[glatt]

With hundreds of thousands of members across all regions of the country, there are lots of different points of view within scouting. At the national level, they make these rules, but as you get down to the individual level, you don't have uniform agreement with those rules, and in my experience, people sometimes look the other way when it comes to some of the more ridiculous ones.

It's great that this Council level group is openly defying the national level rules instead of just looking the other way to achieve the same thing. I hope it brings change to the national level.

The downside of individuals looking the other way on some of the ridiculous rules is that you get individuals who look the other way on the good rules and do shit like destroy geological features in protected parks.