Boy Scouts of America looks toward equality, considers lifting ban

[abiding]

Comments

[crossfire]

the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with each organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs.

"We'll still be a bigoted organization, just not officially."

[wrestlingdog]

Love that they gave Zach Wahls a shout-out.

[pleasure_past]

I'm happy about this for the sake of queer scouts, leaders, and employees, but to be honest I really just think the Boy Scouts are a shitty organization all around and wish people would just abandon them and join/found better groups rather than trying to make the BSA change. The BSA have been a breeding ground of all kinds of bigotry for a very long time and it just doesn't seem worth salvaging to me. But I'm just a girl, so what do I know?

Edited because what the fuck is an antecedent.

[kyra_neko_rei]

No shit. I've been hoping for awhile that their bigotries would create an opening for the Girl Scouts to poach away the stuff that was worth keeping and the better people among the organization, and become the Scouts, with the Boy Scouts dwindling to the sexist and homophobic strongholds that refuse to do any better.

Of course, as a former Girl Scout whose brother was a former Boy Scout, I have the bitterness that comes from watching a sibling get to do all the good stuff I didn't have access to because he was a boy and I was a girl and the two Scouting organizations weren't remotely comparable in my location.

[tigerdreams]

I remain unimpressed with this. Not only would this allow individual troops to continue to discriminate, but it only addresses part of their discrimination problem in the first place.

[moonshaz]

The policy change under discussion would allow the religious, civic, or educational organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting to determine how to address this issue. The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members, or parents. Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs.This part sucks, but I can still see this policy change being a very positive one. This is obviously a big step for this organization, and it's definitely a step in the right direction. No, it isn't going to take things ALL THE WAY to where they should be. But if this change goes through (and it sure sounds like it's going to), changes are going to start happening all over the place. As time goes on, these organizations that still want to continue banning gays will feel more and more pressure and eventually they WILL go the rest of the way, too--or die a natural death, as people leave their

[redstar826]

To not support this policy change because it isn't absolutely perfect would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, imo.

I don't think anyone is actually saying that given a choice between this and keeping the current policy, that they would go with keeping the current policy. But, that doesn't make this change the best policy and we shouldnt pat our selves on the back like we've won and it's over.

and you make it sound like people are objecting to some minor thing rather than a major flaw...

[moonshaz]

I didn't mean to imply it's a "minor thing." I was just under the impression (evidently falsely?) that some people thought this proposed policy change was totally worthless,and that's what I was responding to. If I misunderstood, I apologize.

I was also influenced by my astonishment at learning that the BSA is contemplating ANY kind of change in the direction of inclusiveness. I thought they were a lost cause, tbh. In that context, this seemed like a significant development, imho.

No, this doesn't go nearly far enough, and nobody's "won" anything yet. Not trying to suggest that. This is just the beginning. But it IS a beginning.