Boy Scouts of America Turns 100, Still Discriminates

So much for that old adage "with age comes wisdom." The Boy Scouts of America celebrates 100 years this year. But despite hitting its centennial birthday, the organization is digging its heels into the ground on the issue of whether gay folks can play a part in the organization.

Ten years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Boy Scouts could bar gay folks from serving as Scout leaders. Ten years later, the Boy Scouts are again playing the homophobia card, telling two lesbian moms from Vermont that they can't be Scout leaders for their son.

That has some Congressional leaders blazing mad, including Vermont's at-large member of the U.S. House, Rep. Peter Welch. He was among the legislators that fired off a letter to the Boy Scouts of America, urging them to reconsider their harsh stance on banning gay people from serving as Scout leaders.

"As deeply troubling as the exclusionary policy is, the message that the policy sends is perhaps most damaging," said the letter. "The Boy Scouts are teaching America's youth at impressionable ages that lesbians and gays are to be excluded because they are different, and not 'morally straight' as per the Boy Scouts' official stated position."

Indeed, the Boy Scouts of America has spent the better part of its first 100 years training young folks to become active members of a "more conscientious, responsible, and productive society." So why does homophobia and discrimination have to play a part in that mission?

At issue in Vermont is the story of two moms, Cate and Elizabeth Wirth, a couple who applied to be scout leaders for their son. Despite being called "a very good Vermont family" by legislators, the Boy Scouts of America said that the moms couldn't take a leadership role with the organization. Sure, the moms had volunteered in the past, but that was before the Boy Scouts found out their sexual orientation.

Makes you think that this is less about protecting children from anything (given that the moms were at one point volunteers), but instead about enforcing a dopey rule that excludes good people from leadership positions within the organization, and contradicts the scouting mission of building a more conscientious world. Conscientious and discrimination go together like Conan O'Brien and NBC.

In receiving the letter from 25 legislators criticizing their persistent exclusion of gay men and women from leadership positions, the Boy Scouts said that they continue to examine the issue. A spokesperson for the group told the Time Argus in Vermont that the Boy Scouts continue to learn through this debate.

"The BSA recognizes that some do not agree with its position on this issue and values the opinions of everyone as it teaches its members to use courtesy and respect at all times," spokesman Deron Smith told the paper. "In the meantime, the Boy Scouts of America will continue to strengthen common interests, while respecting differences and will focus on its mission and on reaching as many youth as possible in order to help them grow into good, strong citizens."

Growing strong citizens doesn't start with telling children that queer folks are disqualified from service. What values get reaffirmed by keeping well-qualified gay and lesbian fathers, mothers and leaders from working with scouts? Certainly not the type of values that create a society that values the common good.

As a former scout -- who happened to win the Pinewood Derby two years in a row, and now has gay pride stickers on his trophies -- there's a lot to admire about the Boy Scouts of America. Their policy on excluding gays and lesbians from service is not one of them. Here's hoping that while their first century was marked by an insistence of exclusion, their next century reverses a bad policy that keeps well-qualified people from helping kids.

Photo credit: stevendepolo