An Eagle Scout’s Call For Inclusion
I would applaud Boy Scouts of America if it permitted openly gay scouts to fully participate in Scouts. However, the Scouts must also accept openly gay Assistant Scoutmasters and Scoutmasters. Anything less still amounts to a clear, implicit message that homosexuality is an abomination so horrible that it, alone, undermines the full value and integrity of that person.
If I learned anything in Boy Scouts, it’s that you earn an Eagle Scout rank based in large part on what you do for other people.
You have to earn merit badges such as Citizenship in the Community, Nation, and World. All these merit badges are designed to teach us the importance of being an active, positive influence in the world. Scouts have to learn First Aid so that we can help other people when they are in dire need.
The Scout slogan is “Do a Good Turn Daily.” The Scout Law says that a Scout is Helpful. The Scout oath makes us promise to “Help Other People at all Times.” Most importantly, Eagle Scouts must do a project that has a profoundly positive impact on other people in the community, at no cost to the community. In short, to be an Eagle Scout, it is tantamount that you serve other people.
The importance of serving other people is tantamount to Reverance, and the Scout Law says that a Scout is Reverent. Importantly, God doesn’t ask us to do good works to earn God’s favor. God asks us to accept God as our Savior. But our acceptance of God causes us to do good works for other people.
A rule barring gay young men from participating in scouts, or in leadership, goes against the importance of the axiom that Scouting is about helping other people at all times.
What it says is that we value our Scouts based in large part on how much they help other people, unless of course they’re gay. Then, no matter how much service is a part of their heart, and no matter how much service they actually do for other people, they’re not worthy because they’re gay. A gay person might have fed an entire community after a natural disaster for his Eagle project but, no matter, he’s not leadership material because he’s gay.
Such a stance undermines the very core values of Scouting. Worse still, it fundamentally hurts gay persons at all times. Gay persons are among the likeliest of people to commit suicide or develop severe depression. A cause to this problem is societal rejection of their sexual orientation. The BSA’s exclusive attitude isn’t helping.
An open, affirming, and inclusive BSA empowers gay persons with a message that their worth is not measured by their orientation—that, in fact, their orientation has nothing to do with their worth.
Including gay persons in Scouts will also help society as a whole accept gay persons, just as the Army helped desegregation by adopting a desegregationist policy during the Korean War. Treating gay persons differently in Scouts hurts other people.
Finally, there’s no biblical or faith-based basis for such discrimination. We Christians show our dedication to God by doing good works and deeds for other people. As history has shown us, gay persons are just as capable of being faithful servants of Christ, and of proving that by their service to other people.
The BSA would therefore be consistent if it instituted a policy based on faith demonstrated by works, rather than instituting a policy of discrimination against orientation.
For the above reasons, I urge the Boy Scouts of America to adopt a policy that is open, affirming, and inclusive of gay persons in Boy Scouts, both among the members, and among the leadership.
To take action before The BSA takes a vote on ending the ban on gay Scouts, call your local council.