Boy Scouts are taught to always "be prepared." But are their parents prepared to pull them out of the organization in protest against anti-gay policies?
Perhaps so. After the Mount Diablo Silverado Council once again denied local boy scout Ryan Andresen his Eagle Scout badge, some parents are considering boycotting the scouts.
The council claims that Andresen, because he is gay, rejects God and therefore cannot fulfill the Boy Scout "duty to God" promise.
Reactions from Patch users have included outrage, shock, and even a new promise: to remove their sons from the organization.
A commenter on the Lamorinda Patch Facebook page calls the situation "crazy" and says he is "seriously considering" pulling his son out of the Boy Scouts.
Are you considering taking your son out of Boy Scouts? Do you agree with such a boycott? Share your views in the comments section below.
Here's what parents and locals are saying about the decision from the Boy Scout Council:
On the Lamorinda Patch Facebook page: "Something is seriously wrong with our society. I think all scouts should band together and do something to send a message."
Another says, "If he completed the projects and necessary badges, he should be awarded. Baden Powell would agree."
"Shameful," says a commenter on the Concord Patch Facebook page. "My boys will never be associated with this terrible organization."
Another says, "How dare they say Ryan rejects God. They are acting very unGod like."
One commenter states that while he agrees Andresen should recieve his badge, the Boy Scouts have a right to adhere to such policies: "This is the land of the free right? The scouts are a private group right? I'm not for their decision but it is hypocritical to fight against oppression then turn around and oppress a private group for [their] American right [...] If you don't agree with the choice it makes don't participate with the group!"
A commenter on the Pleasant Hill Patch Facebook page says, "Personally, I think it's incredibly disappointing. I would like to pride myself in saying that the town I live in is full of forward thinkers, trying to better the community in anyway it can."
Another says, "Are they living in the 16th Century? Sounds like they are branding the Scout as a 'Heretic'."
"Pathetic," says a commenter on the Martinez Patch Facebook page. "I have always thought I would one day have my son in Boy Scouts and loved the idea of being a 'den mother'. Never going to happen now. I will never have my son associated with a group that discriminates against youths."
Another parent adds: "My daughter was a girl scout for many years and I loved the organization — very inclusive and non-discriminatory. But my son will never ever ever be a part of the Boy Scouts."
On the Walnut Creek Patch Facebook page, a father says: "Yet one more reason my kids will never be let anywhere close to that paramilitary bigot hateful organization."
Have your views of the Boy Scouts changed? Comment below.
If your getting so wound up over the patch then perhaps you should make like Susan and take a break! Smile, It becomes contagious!
BOY SCOUTS upholds a "DON"T ASK, DON"T EVANGLIZE" policy on sexuality. The debate over this issue is split between those who feel that the policy should avoid and prevent discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and those who question the inclusion of GAY MALES. Now is this unreasonable! I HOPE SO//! Oh I FORGOT I changed the names From "GIRLS SCOUTS" to "BOY"S" It is a fine group THE GIRLS SCOUT STANDARD! They see Differances/ .Hmm/ Let's Hear the OUTRAGE! Donald E. Barkley
WHEN SUCH ISSUES ARRIVE DUPLICITY CAN SURLY THRIVE! PLEASE I SAID MAYBE! I AM JUST NOW LOOKING UP "FACT'S"! WHAT IS OUT THERE AND WHY! THE MOM "KARin"? I HOPE AND PRAY your son Grows UP AS GOOD AS HE SOUNDS!/ BUT FACT'S ARE A MAJORITY DON'T BELIVE IN GAYS IN BOY SCOUTS,AND "NO BEING GAY is NOT JUST LIKE ANY person! or life has just a generation left! NOT WORSE OR BAD/ BUT A MINORITY! and Not evil bad however your statement is false this is a sad issue and divisive,Karen if that's your name/I pray that you and son and all in this situation/ That we can find a solution/in witch not "compellation" but compassion for both sides! Don
DON
Nationwide, only 2% of all Boy Scouts ever attain Eagle, since BSA's 1911 founding. A century later (2011) only 1 in 20 dedicated scouts reached Eagle. Yet from all you read about herein, and elsewhere, in a media seemingly hell bent on destroying this honorable and beneficial organization, you'd think that every kid born was entitled to receive this coveted high honor. From a purely legal standpoint, the Boys Scouts is a private organization entitled to have its set of requirements which every scout and scout family knows and acknowledges from their first day as Tenderfoot. If the basic tenets of the Scout Laws and Oath are reprehensible to a scout or his parents, no one forces them to join. Our Supreme Court properly upheld the rights of the BSA to exclude homosexual adult leaders. Would not anyone respect the rights of NAMBLA to exclude Chick Fil-A's President?
@Goldmam No jews or blacks or women or Irish allowed Irish need not reply Remember those signs? How about "No coloreds allowed" or male cook wanted?" None of these signs are allowed today Thank God we fought against this discriminatin
I hope that some of the comments on here don't get to you, I really appreciate your replies to them and at the same time, you don't have to respond to the ones we all know come from biggots and trolls as they are everywhere. I hope that Ryan and yourself have a great new year filled with new opportunities.
http://www.recapo.com/ellen-degeneres-show/ellen-interviews/ellen-gay-boy-scout-ryan-andresen-petitions-to-become-eagle-scout/
Imagine a time when no scout leader cared what Ryan's sexual preference was and Ryan would have no reason to bring it up in that venue. Beyond "don't ask, don't tell." Something like, "Who knows? Who cares?"
So there's a white guy that lives in the clouds. He wears long flowing gowns, has shoulder length hair and apparently has little use for women, even his make-believe son was asexual at best. So this guy created our universe and all those others that crop up on our mightiest of telescopes in seven days and now spends his days keeping track of all our behavior, every bit of it. No wonder he's no hit with the girls, he's too darn critical. Then there's the heaven deal, that one always intrigued me. My dad told me it was outside of Palm Springs to get me to stop asking for directions. And the milk and honey idea, that's a doozie. And you actually ask bright young boys and girls to believe in the reality of this or they can't learn how to tie a sheep-shank knot? Not fair, that. As if you have cornered the market on honesty, morality and philosophy. Sounds more like delusional megalomania to me. And those Buddhists, they gotta go to, about a billion of them. They think god was a man, just like the rest. They just don't have the imagination you guys possess. Although they have that transmigration thing, where you can come back to life as just about anything under the sun. No that I could get my brain around. Good luck with this sort of thinking in the future, I think you and people like you are in for quite a surprise.
Even at 8 or 9 years old, this seemed more than a bit arbitrary and harsh to me, so I relegated the rest of their implausible rhetoric to my newly initiated scrap heap of bad ideas. Mom had been a rare female UC grad in the 30s and she had been taken up with the mysteries of the Far East, and spouted words like 'karma' and 'existential' around the dinner table, which seemed for me a better fit. She told us every act, no matter how seemingly insignificant, had a moral and political component. Failure to behave morally did not condemn you, but rather it negatively effected the very fabric that wove all of humanity together in one large all encompassing garment, human existence. This I got and went with (it).
Latest mantra, "It is what it is" obviously.