Boy Scouts Lifts Ban on Gay Scout Leaders

[Torie]

Sadly, my own faith (the LDS Church, of course), which has a massive amount of influence on the BSA, isn't exactly happy about this, even with the religious exemption. They might even leave, which is a problem for the BSA, since the LDS Church is the biggest funder, troop sponsor, and has traditionally had a close relationship with the Scouts; we even have Scoutmaster as an approved church appointment.

What frustrates me is that the lifting of the ban is almost exactly like the LDS Church-supported anti-discrimination/religious liberty law that passed in Utah. If it works for Utah, why not the Scouts?

Is there any possibility that somehow LDS kids could be in a troop that has a gay scout leader? What I am getting at, is if the LDS remains involved, is it possible that if someone applied to be scout leader of an LDS sponsored troop, the LDS would have to consider that candidate? Is the LDS concerned about gay scout leaders of non LDS troops because LDS kids would be exposed to the gay scout leaders at Scout jamboree events or whatever, where a lot of troops meet up?

Absent the concerns above, I don't see why the LDS would consider severing its sponsorship of Scout activities, or even take a position on the matter.

[Torie]

Sadly, my own faith (the LDS Church, of course), which has a massive amount of influence on the BSA, isn't exactly happy about this, even with the religious exemption. They might even leave, which is a problem for the BSA, since the LDS Church is the biggest funder, troop sponsor, and has traditionally had a close relationship with the Scouts; we even have Scoutmaster as an approved church appointment.

What frustrates me is that the lifting of the ban is almost exactly like the LDS Church-supported anti-discrimination/religious liberty law that passed in Utah. If it works for Utah, why not the Scouts?

Is there any possibility that somehow LDS kids could be in a troop that has a gay scout leader? What I am getting at, is if the LDS remains involved, is it possible that if someone applied to be scout leader of an LDS sponsored troop, the LDS would have to consider that candidate? Is the LDS concerned about gay scout leaders of non LDS troops because LDS kids would be exposed to the gay scout leaders at Scout jamboree events or whatever, where a lot of troops meet up?

Absent the concerns above, I don't see why the LDS would consider severing its sponsorship of Scout activities, or even take a position on the matter.

Sure there can be, it's just gonna have to be under a DADT sorta situation.

And honestly that wouldn't surprise me at all if that was why.

However, there's also the fact that this whole thing happened behind their back, or at least, that's how they see it.

The odd thing is that I've been following the news on this, and the "BSA will allow gay leaders" was basically being telegraphed months ahead of it actually happening. It wasn't a surprise at all. The head of the BSA even said (paraphrasing) "yeah we're going to do this soon". I don't get how the blindsided argument works.

As for the rest of your post, yeah, it's basically a "Don't Ask Don't Tell" situation, though I imagine that the Church in particular tries to have most Scout leader be married ones (to a woman, of course), to lessen the possibility of a secretly gay Scout leader.

Who knew? That bit made me laugh. I guess my chances of being selected as a Scout leader of an LDS troop would not be very good - Godless, gay, unmarried and living in sin, pot smoking drinker. But hey, I might expand the vocabulary of some of the kids of my troop. Maybe that would be viewed with some suspicion too. Oh well.

[Torie]

13-18 year old boys 13-18 year old girls a little love might happen.

So you are anti-love?

In all seriousness gender integrated scouting troops (and patrols) work just fine. Lots of countries have them.

Not anti-love but boys and girls are stupid at our age and most boys in my troop talk about their girlfriend and how they've done it with her. It also sets a bad example on younger scouts. Bottom line they shouldn't be allowed to sleep near each other on a camp out.

I don't want to sound facetious, but why does it matter? Like, who cares? Most people lose their virginity in their teens, so why does it matter if they lose it while wearing a sash with loads of badges on it?

They are minors. Lawsuits baby. Case closed. Next!