No they won’t. And it is directly due to the fear of this, that they don’t. Emphasis is on the word “fear”. Fear that openly gay men could be scout masters or openly gay boys could share tents would pretty much destroy the institution. Just knowing that an openly gay man was in a troop would cause a mass exodus to other troops. It ain’t fair, but fear and fair rarely share the same tent either.
I’ve been involved with the organisation for a few years because of my son. There is a lot of concern about sexual predators and they have developed a strict set of rules to avoid it that all of us adult leaders must be repeatedly trained in. To their credit, its all about avoiding one-on-one contact between any adult and scout and homosexuality itself is never the focus. In fact they are just as skiddish about adult hetrosexual pairings in tents on campouts. I’m well aware that gay men are no more likely to be pedaphiles than hetrosexual men. But a gay guy with no kids of his own, who wants to be involved with Boy Scouts is a bit of a red flag. The stickler are gay dads with boys who want to be scouts. We haven’t encountered that, at least that we are aware of. None of us really look into private lives of our single dads, so who knows? I, for one don’t care. The rules of conduct are the same for everyone.
…and yet they won’t hire/allow gay troop leaders or support gay youth.
No they won’t. And it is directly due to the fear of this, that they don’t. Emphasis is on the word “fear”. Fear that openly gay men could be scout masters or openly gay boys could share tents would pretty much destroy the institution. Just knowing that an openly gay man was in a troop would cause a mass exodus to other troops. It ain’t fair, but fear and fair rarely share the same tent either.
I’ve been involved with the organisation for a few years because of my son. There is a lot of concern about sexual predators and they have developed a strict set of rules to avoid it that all of us adult leaders must be repeatedly trained in. To their credit, its all about avoiding one-on-one contact between any adult and scout and homosexuality itself is never the focus. In fact they are just as skiddish about adult hetrosexual pairings in tents on campouts. I’m well aware that gay men are no more likely to be pedaphiles than hetrosexual men. But a gay guy with no kids of his own, who wants to be involved with Boy Scouts is a bit of a red flag. The stickler are gay dads with boys who want to be scouts. We haven’t encountered that, at least that we are aware of. None of us really look into private lives of our single dads, so who knows? I, for one don’t care. The rules of conduct are the same for everyone.
To their credit
Typesbad, your ignorance is monumental — especially since you couch it in “tolerant” rhetoric.
Geez, it’s awful to have to say it but the “Help I’m Being Molested” app is probably a damn good idea.