Why the Boy Scouts are without Honor

Long before the issue of "gayness" could raide its head in my dealings with the Boy Scouts, they lost my respect and support.

Back in the day (circa 1967) I joined the Boy Scouts.  I was fun, it was a social interaction, it was guidance and a "moral" teaching group.  I was not an outstanding member; I didn't want to be a leader, I didn't expect it to be a lifelong involvement.  I did complete several merit badge projects, but that was soon seen as a futile activity.  The problem was that they deliberately discouraged independent and critical thinking.  The whole aim, it seemed, was to identify a few select individuals to mark as leaders, and train the rest to support them and not to rock the boat.

From a young age, I was encouraged to question things, to think for myself and to find out the "whys" of a situation.  The answer "just because" was unacceptable and was a mark of intellectual sloth.  My parents spent a great deal of time explaining why the rules were the way they were, and clearly identified the occasional "because" as a sign of injustice and as something that might have to be endured and targeted for change in the future.

To many, this sort of an attitude is clearly at odds with the BSA politik.  The leadership was not equipped to handle such discussions.

It was while working on one of the "Citizenship" badges that I came to a head for me.  At this point I don't recall exactly how the religious issues came into focus, but the historical prejudices that supported segregation, and the nascent civil right movement that was bringing integration to the area collided head-on in my project.  It was Durham, NC in 1967; the schools had been forced into integration the year before I moved there, and having always attended integrated schoold in New York where I came from, I did not comprehend or support the lingering racism of the time.

The report I had to prepare came at the issue from a very different perspective than that held by the scout review board at the church it was affiliated with.  For a variety of reasons, my report was ruled "unacceptable" for getting the merit badge.  I appealed to the district xouncil and demanded to know why it was unacceptable.  As it turned out, the politics of the situation were such that the district was *not* going to reverse the church's decision.

The accuality of the politics only became apparent to me years later -- after I had left the church and scouts far behind -- but at the time it forced me to the decision to part ways with BSA forever. I won't name names or give more specifics -- some of the involved are still around and most regret their positions at the time -- but the politics of the BSA is still following the mold of that time.  There was never an apology, never an admission that, even maybe, there might be merit in my arguments.

The BSA finally did integrate, grudgingly, but without apology.  They are still dealing with the current "gay" situation in the same manner, and without honor.  Some day they might open their eyes and see that the times are changing, but they wont apologize if they do change.