Gay scouting
The Boy Scouts of America is expected to end its ban on openly gay leaders in a limited manner Monday, a historic decision for one of the nation’s largest youth organizations, whose. Gay author Christopher Bram recounts how scouting helped him make it through adolescence and discover his true self. As Alex Call and Dwayne Fontenette describe in their stories about growing up as gay Scouts, there is still so much work to be done to build a safe environment for LGBTQ Scouts today.
Since he was gay, Kimball knew that his sexual orientation would be at odds with the Boy Scouts of America’s policy banning gay Scouts and leaders. Kimball was both: an Eagle Scout and an.
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His first book, Morally Straight: How the Fight for LGBTQ+ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts—and America (Pegasus Books, ), tells the story of the quarter-century fight for LGBTQ+ inclusion in that truly iconic institution. His own story of Scouting—he became an Eagle Scout as a teenager—and coming out offers a quiet counterpoint. These Friends feel that Quakers should not be involved in Scouting at all.
While there is no global consensus on the issue, the Scout associations in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States welcome gay, lesbian, and transgender youth and adults. Scouting America BSA currently admits boys and young men of all ages and young women over the age of 14 as members, Girl Guides of Canada and Girl Guiding UK admit only girls as members and only women as adult volunteers, while Scouts Canada and the The Scout Association UK admit boys and girls as members and men and women as adult volunteers.
Highlights of the policy include:. This change also respects the right of religious chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own. Homosexuality has been perceived as incompatible with Scouting by some people both within and outside The Scout Association on the basis of a presumed link between homosexuality and paedophilia.
This perception has been used to deny homosexual people the chance to work with young people as Scout Leaders. There is no link between homosexuality and paedophilia, and therefore there is no justification for restricting Membership on this basis.
The Scout Association UK has also prepared resource material to assist young gay and lesbian members of Scouting in coming out and material to assist adults and leaders in supporting young gay and lesbian members of Scouting. Skip to content Friends Committee on Scouting Quakers. Search for:. Friends Committee on Scouting Quakers. Proudly powered by WordPress.