I am writing this to address the ban on homosexuals in Scouting. It has been said by proponents of continuing the ban that Scouting should adhere to the principles that Scouting was founded under. I am writing to encourage the Boy Scouts to indeed adhere to those principles. I have written a short piece on those principles that I was taught all those years ago and have served me well in my life.
The Scout Law:
Trustworthy – A Scout is trustworthy. Why would we want to ask a Scout to conceal his sexual orientation? Or ask his parent or caregiver to do the same? This would be forcing them to live a lie and thus less than Scouting’s ideals.
Loyal – A Scout is loyal. Why should a Scout join us if his friend is not allowed or his parent is disallowed from participating due to their beliefs or a behavior that does not harm themselves or others?
Helpful – A Scout is helpful. How can we help people by driving them from our ranks for the basest of reasons, fear?
Friendly – A Scout is friendly. Friendly means to be inclusive. How does disallowing the participation of a boy or his parent because of their beliefs or feelings, meet this tenet of Scouting?
Courteous – A Scout is courteous. Courtesy is based upon respect. How are we teaching respect for others when we exclude someone based upon something that may or may not be a choice?
Kind – A Scout is kind. The golden rule is the ultimate guide to kindness. Kind is to treat others as you would want to be treated. Would you want to be excluded because of a differing belief from participating in Scouting?
Obedient – A Scout is obedient. Obedience is based upon listening to the commands one is given and following them. And Jesus commanded, “Love one another.” And Robert Baden-Powell said, “But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. ‘Be Prepared’ in this way, to live happy and to die happy — stick to your Scout Promise always — even after you have ceased to be a boy — and God help you to do it.”
Cheerful – A Scout is cheerful. How can a Scout be cheerful about excluding others for nothing that they have done but for stating their beliefs or feelings?
Thrifty – A Scout is thrifty. Scouts should not waste things. One of the greatest assets of Scouting is the volunteers who form the backbone of the organization. How can we justify turning away even one willing unpaid volunteer, qualified in every other way in these days of ever scarcer resources for Scouting for something that will not affect their ability to do the job?
Brave – A Scout is brave. To hide this decision behind a moral imperative is cowardice. There is no justification for it at all. Yes, Scouting has had its problems with abusers that have shaken the organization to the core, but fear does not justify disallowing someone. Scouts has standards for its leaders, standards that I understand preclude a leader from being alone with boys. Adherence to these standards, rigorously enforced, should prevent any wishing to harm a Scout from doing so. Indeed they would be foolish to even try knowing the increased scrutiny that these leaders and Scouts would be under.
Clean – A Scout is clean. Cleanliness as I was taught it in scouting means leaving things as we found it or better than we found it. How does leaving these individuals behind who wish the Scouting experience, the camaraderie and the adventure make us or them better?
And
Reverent – A Scout is reverent. Reverence is respectful of God, but also to others relationship with God and beliefs or lack thereof in him. Scouting has long been inclusive of all religions and those with none. From Catholicism to Buddhism there are badges to be earned by learning about one’s own religion. The idea is to deepen one’s own beliefs while also learning and respecting others. Why should this be any different?
Now many who advocate the continuation of this policy quote the Scout Oath or Promise:
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
The last two words is their catchphrase: “morally straight”. But let us look at that morally straight for those observant of the Jewish faith means that I as a Gentile am not “morally straight”, if you take it to be following the tenets of any religion, then many Scouts would be excluded from “morally straight”. Same with almost all of the religions ascribed to by Scouts. But, I do not think Scouting was intended by Mr. Baden-Powell to be so narrow; else would there be badges and awards for being reverent to so many different religions with conflicting ideas about morality? I think morally straight here means as in the more common term “Do the right thing.” Do right by one another. Keep your code, but allow another his code. Or to quote another way of stating it, “Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.” Instead scouting should and does focus on the common things that bind us all Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan or whatever faith one professes: “Do not kill”, “Do not steal”, “Do not lie” and so on.
There is much debate about homosexuality and whether it is a choice or genetic or what. I believe that Scouting should not engage that debate or take a position of any of the myriad of views on the subject. Instead, it should treat it as it does ones religious views and simply allow an open, honest and respectful forum for discussions of various beliefs. One thing I learned from Scouting, one of the most valuable to me I think was the exposure to others views and ways of thinking in a forum that did not prejudge my own religious beliefs or theirs nor the merits of either. My fellow Scouts had their religious codes and I had mine. But more importantly we had a common code of respect for ones fellow man. A code you see above. It amazes me that anyone tries to use this code to justify the homosexual ban. The way I was taught the Scout law and oath, it goes against everything to me scouting ever stood for.
End the hypocrisy. Bring scouting back to the principles it was indeed founded on, inclusiveness, respect and learning about the world we live in and those that live in it. I implore you. Do this in honor of all the scouts of the past and assure us an organization and a legacy that will continue to endure to serve future scouts, not go the way of other organizations that clung to outdated notions of morality instead of the true morality beyond narrow world views. All scouts past, present and future deserve this.
