U.S. Boy Scouts set to end ban on gay members

[Caliga]

Cal, you were a boy scout, weren't you? Eagle Scout, iirc. So answer this question for me:

1.) BSA said that gays were not allowed in the BSA because they're a Christian organization.
2.) There are Christians who do not believe that being gay is a sin.
3.) BSA isn't affiliated with a particular Christian church.

Am I correct on all of the above?

If I am, why haven't the Christians who have no issue with homosexuality stepped up and said so?

This is the part that gets me. I know a lot of Christians who say things like, "Well, I'm not one of those kinds of Christians. I believe in equal rights for everyone. I'm not a fundy nutjob." And yet, you never hear those people, in a Christian organization, saying, "How about we represent all Christians and not just you fundy nutjobs?"

I was a Boy Scout, yes, but I never reached the rank of Eagle, no.

1.  I don't think the Boy Scouts claim to be a Christian organization.  There are Jewish Boy Scouts, Muslim Boy Scouts, Hindu Boy Scouts, etc.  However, the BSA does require all of its members to be religious and 'reverent'.

2.  Correct.

3.  Correct.  HOWEVER, the BSA has a very prominent association with the Mormons, in that pretty much all Mormon boys are expected to be in the Scouts, and the LDS is I believe a major donor to the BSA.  When I was at Philmont there were literally hundreds of Mormon troops there at the same time.

[Syt]

So gays are already allowed into the army and boyscouts? What's next? The KKK and neonazis?

It's laughable how we want to be a part of those patriarchal (para)military circle-jerks.

[11B4V]

So gays are already allowed into the army and boyscouts? What's next? The KKK and neonazis?

It's laughable how we want to be a part of those patriarchal (para)military circle-jerks.

plus you should fit in with the circle-jerks quite well.

[Martinus]

So gays are already allowed into the army and boyscouts? What's next? The KKK and neonazis?

It's laughable how we want to be a part of those patriarchal (para)military circle-jerks.

plus you should fit in with the circle-jerks quite well.

Yeah, but only if that's part of roleplaying.

[merithyn]

I was a Boy Scout, yes, but I never reached the rank of Eagle, no.

1.  I don't think the Boy Scouts claim to be a Christian organization.  There are Jewish Boy Scouts, Muslim Boy Scouts, Hindu Boy Scouts, etc.  However, the BSA does require all of its members to be religious and 'reverent'.

2.  Correct.

3.  Correct.  HOWEVER, the BSA has a very prominent association with the Mormons, in that pretty much all Mormon boys are expected to be in the Scouts, and the LDS is I believe a major donor to the BSA.  When I was at Philmont there were literally hundreds of Mormon troops there at the same time.

Ah, okay. So they're really non-denominational, but really, really, they're Mormon. Got it.

[Caliga]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the BSA is Mormon or even controlled by the Mormons, but the Mormons do wield tremendous influence, both through sheer number of members and donations, so I have no doubt that's why the BSA has been so reluctant to flex on the "we hate gays" issue.

[garbon]

http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/04/19/lds-church-review-boy-scout-plan-lift-gay-ban

Mormon church leaders say they will carefully review the Boy Scouts of America's new proposal on the organization's long-standing ban on gays before it takes a position.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Michael Purdy said Friday they are looking closely at the language in the proposal and studying the implications.

The Scouts announced Friday that the proposal would be submitted at its national meeting in Texas the week of May 20.

Figures from the Boy Scouts of America show there are more Mormon Boy Scouts nationally than any other religious denomination. In the Boy Scouts' Great Salt Lake Council, 99 percent of the troops are sponsored by the Mormon church.

The LDS church teaches its members that marriage is only between a man and a woman and that same-sex relationships are sinful.

[merithyn]

http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/04/19/lds-church-review-boy-scout-plan-lift-gay-ban

Mormon church leaders say they will carefully review the Boy Scouts of America's new proposal on the organization's long-standing ban on gays before it takes a position.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Michael Purdy said Friday they are looking closely at the language in the proposal and studying the implications.

The Scouts announced Friday that the proposal would be submitted at its national meeting in Texas the week of May 20.

Figures from the Boy Scouts of America show there are more Mormon Boy Scouts nationally than any other religious denomination. In the Boy Scouts' Great Salt Lake Council, 99 percent of the troops are sponsored by the Mormon church.

The LDS church teaches its members that marriage is only between a man and a woman and that same-sex relationships are sinful.

Sounds awfully Mormon to me.

[garbon]

Btw, I did read that the LDS was one of the few church groups not present during supreme court sessions. All the other groups were out in defense of keeping marriage between a man and a woman.

[Caliga]

@Meri I don't think we are disagreeing with each other on that.

But the BSA definitely is not controlled by the LDS Church in any formal sense and you certainly don't have to be a Mormon to belong.  My troop was sponsored by the United Methodist Church, for example, and there was a synagogue near me that sponsored a Jewish troop.

[citizen k]

Sounds awfully Mormon to me.

You didn't read the links I posted at all, did you?

[merithyn]

Sounds awfully Mormon to me.

You didn't read the links I posted at all, did you?

Yes, I did.

But just because they have all of these other lovely badges, if the rules are de facto Mormon (because they run the damn organization), they don't really mean much, do they? I mean, based on Cal's answer, any religion is fine so long as the boy is faithful. Except that I'm fairly sure they don't mean that because there are a number of those churches that have no problem with homosexuality and gay marriage, ie Episcopalian.

[Admiral Yi]

in that pretty much all Mormon boys are expected to be in the Scouts

No shit.  Did not know that.

[Caliga]

Why do you think Mormons are so good at tying knots?

[Admiral Yi]

Didn't know that either.