I keep having a proverb play through my head. What happens to one stone reflects upon them all.
For any non-scouts out there, maybe it’s harder to see, but there is a difference in “I am a Scout” and “I am a member of the Boy Scouts of America.” At one point in time both were true statements for me. The latter does not remain. I am not a member of their leadership (specifically because of this policy) and of course beyond the legal age to be a member of a troop. The BSA can deny to acknowledge my Scouthood, but they can not take it away from me. Nor will I surrender it simply because the organization has fundamentally lost its way. (Maybe they all need to go back to the basics… Orienteering has application to the moral-compass too, guys.) On the same token, I could be stripped of my citizenship. I’d still be American.
For perspective, there are plenty of members of the BSA who are not Scouts. They do not live what that means…. and those happen to also be the ones most vocal against GSM people in their organization.
On the surface, I’d say it’s a stretch that the BSA is a hate group… but I’m not much of a surface-thinker and this proverb has a point and that point supports your assertion.
Membership policies in and of themselves aren’t enough to qualify it under the definition you provided. Which isn’t to say the definition Webster puts in there is adequate, that can be a separate debate. It does piss poor job of defining a lot of things, like religion for example.
From there, however it becomes an extremely fine line, though. It’s not so much that you discriminate in who can and can’t join your private, religiously-oriented club, but in how you go about it. If it weren’t for the whole freedom of religious expression issue… I’m not sure I’d make the distinction myself.
Plenty of times I’ve been told, sorry, but you’re not welcome. It sucks, and it makes me angry to be excluded in something I want to be a part of, but it isn’t automatically the product of hatred. Sometimes it is, but more often than not it isn’t. There is such a thing as respectfully declining to grant someone membership. (Good luck finding that as a pervasive practice though.)
Does the BSA, as a matter of policy, advocate hatred and violence against anyone, GSM people included? No (at least not officially, and, frankly, it goes against the very core of what being a Scout is. The leadership may not get that, but it seems like there are a good number of scouts out there that do, and are advocating an end to a stupid policy.)
What about as a matter of practice? As there elements within the BSA that have crossed that line into what reasonable people such as ourselves can construe as hatred and hostility (if not violence)? I think the answer is absolutely.
Stripping a scout of the honors he has been awarded because he believes in the oath he took and isn’t going to be dishonest about a part of himself is construable as a hostile action. (That fits the definition.) Denying a scout the honors he earned for doing the same is construable as hateful. (That also fits.) So, their official policy might not qualify them, but their refusal to condemn such behavior in no uncertain terms betrays that policy. Failure to act has the net effect of condoning it, and that just allows it to spread until no one is left that can see how it’s in conflict with the values.
They can deny this all they want, too, but when you have elements of your organization, however fringe they may be (and they aren’t really fringe these days), engaging in outright hatred and hostility then that does reflect on your organization as a whole… and should spur you to do something about it. What happens to one stone, reflects upon them all.
So maybe elements of the public going down this road of labeling them a Hate Group is exactly what needs to happen to force them into dealing with it. I mean imagine if other groups came out and labeled them such! List-keepers, take note.
There was a time I was a wee bit more forgiving of their policy… back when I was in the program and it still remembered how Scouts treat people. That isn’t universally the case anymore, and that deeply saddens me. You’ll find some troops out there that will welcome you with open arms. You’ll find some that will turn you away, but with dignity and respect. I’d like to think they are many, but I don’t hear enough about them.
As a Scout, however, its better that I stand with my brothers, and not against them. Those that are Scouts, anyway. There are those young men currently active in the organization that are fighting to end this. They have a real chance to bring about change and restore the BSA to its ideals. They deserve the support of not only myself, and their other fellow Scouts, but perhaps also non-scouts that understand what scouting is really all about and how this practice of theirs is not just inconsistent with American values, but rather inconsistent with Scouting values.
It’s not a very scouting way to put it.. but particularly in these kinds of things… my school of thought is “Do something. Do nothing. It’s up to you, just please don’t bitch about it.”
Lots of bitching in America, not so much action. And we can’t let the terrorists win, so that’s why I make the call and remain a Scout. In spite of the BSA, if that helps.
I couldn’t not be a Scout if I wanted too anyway. It’s not what uniform I put on, the meetings I go to, the knots I can tie, or what I do with my time. It’s who I am. What’s in my heart.
Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent…
Every single word of that law is far deeper in meaning than you will ever find in a dictionary. Few outside the Scouts, it seems, can truly appreciate it. Not a single aspect of it can support this policy of theirs.
In the end, it’s the values they instilled in me that, as painful as it becomes, has me aligning with this notion that the BSA has become a hate group. For something grown of the seed that was a random act of kindness, that’s a pretty sad turn of events.
I am a Scout, and I happen to be gay. Bigotry is no match for what that means. It will not deny me, nor any Scout, of what is in our hearts.
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