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Boy Scouts to accept openly gay youth starting in January

TheDemSocialist

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Starting on New Year's Day, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will accept openly gay youths, a historic change that has prompted the BSA to ponder a host of potential complications ranging from policies on tentmates and showers to whether Scouts can march in gay pride parades.Under the new membership policy, youths can no longer be barred from the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts or coed Venturers program solely on the basis of sexual orientation. But the policy adds, "No member may use Scouting to promote or advance any social or political position or agenda, including on the matter of sexual orientation."
The new policy was approved in May, with support from 60 percent of the 1,400 voting members of the BSA's National Council. The vote followed bitter nationwide debate, and was accompanied by an announcement that the BSA would continue to exclude openly gay adults from leadership positions.
Brad Haddock, a BSA national executive board member who chairs the policy implementation committee, told The Associated Press that "isolated pockets" of problems are likely to surface, but overall he expects adult leaders will have the skills to defuse potential conflicts.
Regarding shower and toilet facilities, the BSA said it is encouraging units to provide greater individual privacy, including moving away from the tradition of group showers.


Read more @:Boy Scouts to accept openly gay youth starting in January | Al Jazeera America

The world has changed and its a good thing that the Boy Scouts has changed with them but only to a certain extent. The Scouts should end the policies of discriminating against the adult leaders, and allow openly gay men to be leaders as well in the organization. I believe they will remove this last barrier very soon as well.
 
I think we should remember the real "victims" in this story, the bigots who fought so hard against this, so we don't forget to laugh at them.
 
I think we should remember the real "victims" in this story, the bigots who fought so hard against this, so we don't forget to laugh at them.

When technological and medical advancement reaches a point where a future of limitless possibilities will be accessible everyone, with no tangible obstacles, the right-wing will reorganize into a cult that will argue that only special people get to participate for so-and-so mumbo-jumbo reasons. Their entire ideology comes from needing other people to feel small so they can feel big.
 
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They had no choice really. They lost major face after their recent high profile cases of discrimination. It was either this or lose funding and become shunned by liberal America.

It's a step in the right direction but I don't feel it's going to really excise homophobia and discrimination from their organization, since it was public pressure, not true compassion and acceptance, that spurred this policy change.
 
They had no choice really. They lost major face after their recent high profile cases of discrimination. It was either this or lose funding and become shunned by liberal America.

It's a step in the right direction but I don't feel it's going to really excise homophobia and discrimination from their organization, since it was public pressure, not true compassion and acceptance, that spurred this policy change.

I disagree.

See, kids don't have this kind of bull**** built into them. It's learned behavior, and it doesn't come from real interaction with homosexual peers. Kids are open and accepting by default, and if they learn from an early age that homosexuality isn't some terrifying thing, they'll carry that to adulthood. Young scouts become adult scouts, and in a generation the problem is mostly gone.

One of the battle cries of the religious zealots is always "but how am I going to explain ___ to my child?"

"Well, little Jimmy, sometimes boys like boys and sometimes girls like girls."

You know how little Jimmy will respond?

"Oh."

That's about it. Kids aren't bigots until they're taught to be bigots.
 
I disagree.

See, kids don't have this kind of bull**** built into them. It's learned behavior, and it doesn't come from real interaction with homosexual peers. Kids are open and accepting by default, and if they learn from an early age that homosexuality isn't some terrifying thing, they'll carry that to adulthood. Young scouts become adult scouts, and in a generation the problem is mostly gone.

One of the battle cries of the religious zealots is always "but how am I going to explain ___ to my child?"

"Well, little Jimmy, sometimes boys like boys and sometimes girls like girls."

You know how little Jimmy will respond?

"Oh."

That's about it. Kids aren't bigots until they're taught to be bigots.

Wasn't referring to the kids actually, but the adults who run the organization. The homophobes haven't been weeded out, they've just been forced into silence. Also, just because BSoA now welcomes openly gay people does not mean their internal review process for abuses has changed. What happens when those openly gay youth are discriminated against or abused? Will the old adult boys club protect the leaders?

My point is that a change in policy at the top does not necessarily mean the social changes will be instant. It's going to take years before BSoA is a truly accepting organization.
 
I won't believe they're serious until they start offering gay merit badges.
 
I won't believe they're serious until they start offering gay merit badges.

That will have to wait till the sodomites start becoming scout masters.
 
When technological and medical advancement reaches a point where a future of limitless possibilities will be accessible everyone, with no tangible obstacles, the right-wing will reorganize into a cult that will argue that only special people get to participate for so-and-so mumbo-jumbo reasons. Their entire ideology comes from needing other people to feel small so they can feel big.

Imagine that.

It certainly isn't like the Left does anything even remotely similar to people like George Zimmerman, Paula Deen and Phil Robertson.
 
That will have to wait till the sodomites start becoming scout masters.

Yeaaaa... Since the Christian church is all holly when it comes to "sodomy"... :roll: *cough cough alter boys*
 
They had no choice really. They lost major face after their recent high profile cases of discrimination. It was either this or lose funding and become shunned by liberal America.

It's a step in the right direction but I don't feel it's going to really excise homophobia and discrimination from their organization, since it was public pressure, not true compassion and acceptance, that spurred this policy change.

Actually it was held up unnecessarily. It was always embarrassing to see the visceral reaction from adults about something the kids mostly don't have any problems with.

As to your "adult leaders" i doubt it's much different from the general public, but if it's really that pressure that led to the change, the same thing will happen the first time some kid is booted over his sexuality.
 
So wait.... Please explain this carton more please... In your own words please...

I think it explains itself well enough. If you can't understand it by reading it directly, then there's little reason to think that it'll do any good for me to try to explain it to you.
 
I think it explains itself well enough. If you can't understand it by reading it directly, then there's little reason to think that it'll do any good for me to try to explain it to you.

So pedophiles are going to infiltrate the Boy Scouts roles because openly gay kids are allowed in the Boy Scouts? Its that the reason and your position?
 
About time... kids don't care at all. It is an adult bias that is learned... We had a gay classmate/friend in grade school that wore make-up even. Nobody cared. We knew it was different but I guess we just accepted him as different... but cool.

My daughter (8 and 9) asked about homosexuality recently. I told them. They were fine with it. I even made a half-joke but ultimately real statement that if they grew up to find they liked girls that was fine with me, as long as they were happy. My younger one told her friend (in front of me) that I was fine if they (my girls) were lesbians. They then made the "yucky" faces and shivered... it was freaking funny.
 
So pedophiles are going to infiltrate the Boy Scouts roles because openly gay kids are allowed in the Boy Scouts? Its that the reason and your position?

Not sure he knows the difference between homosexual and pedophile... but him some slack. :lol:
 
I think it explains itself well enough. If you can't understand it by reading it directly, then there's little reason to think that it'll do any good for me to try to explain it to you.

Or you simply lack the honesty to come out and say what you're actually thinking.

People who hide behind imagery usually don't have very strong arguments to make.
 
I think it explains itself well enough. If you can't understand it by reading it directly, then there's little reason to think that it'll do any good for me to try to explain it to you.

Actually, it doesn't. We can make an assumption but that is all it is....
 
Yeaaaa... Since the Christian church is all holly when it comes to "sodomy"... :roll: *cough cough alter boys*

Don't blame Christians for what a bunch of perverted priest do under the guise of Christianity.
 
Don't blame Christians for what a bunch of perverted priest do under the guise of Christianity.

I won't judge them when you stop judging homosexuals. Deal?
 
I won't judge them when you stop judging homosexuals. Deal?

Actually it's not me who is judging them. I only report what God has said in His Word; it's God who they will answer to, not me.
 
I won't believe they're serious until they start offering gay merit badges.

I received one for window treatments, and I am really quite proud of it.
 
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