Posted on 05/15/2003 12:45:09 PM PDT by RonF
Local Boy Scout leaders asked the public Wednesday to fill a funding void of half a million dollars left when United Way of Miami-Dade pulled its support in a dispute over how the scouts treat gay youths.
Flanked by uniformed leaders and some board members, Jeff Herrmann, chief professional officer of the South Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said the organization was "shocked and disappointed" by the "breach of the community's trust in the United Way."
United Way announced Tuesday that it would withhold its annual funding grant of $480,000 because it believes the South Florida Council has reneged on an agreement to help gay youths cope with their sexuality.
Herrmann said the organization may be forced to cut some of the programs in inner-city communities "whose children need it most." The United Way funds were allocated to Boy Scout, Cub Scout and Venturing programs in Liberty City, Little Haiti, Little Havana, Overtown, Homestead, Hialeah and other low-income areas.
Herrmann specificially criticized the timing of the announcement.
"Thirty days notice is inexcuseable. We're about to go to the summer programs, which are essential to us and the most costly to run," he said.
The $480,000 grant was about 20 percent of the South Florida Council's $3 million operating budget.
People can still give to the scout programs through the United Way if they mark that they specifically want the funds to go there. But Hermann said the organization would also seek funds directly from community groups and donors.
United Way officials said the decision to not renew the annual grant came because the South Florida Council failed to live up to a 2001 agreement to have local leaders undergo diversity and sensitivity training crafted with the help of Project Yes, a Miami group devoted to the needs of gay youth.
Agency spokeswoman Tamara Klingler said the training would teach leaders how to counsel "the young boy who might be questioning his sexual identity, who might think he's gay."
After reading up on this as much as I can, here's what seems to have happened.
The central point seems to be that the local Council was being asked to have their leaders take training on how to deal with issues of youth and sexual identity. Apparently this training was to not only include trying to understand the issues and emotions that a young man who was confused about his sexual identity would be feeling, but also to teach the leaders to refer such a young man to organizations outside of his own family and religion.
The former is acceptable. You need to understand young people's emotions and developmental stages to be able to work with them effectively. However, the latter is unacceptable, as the purpose of the BSA is to support and supplement a Scout's family and religious community, not to provide an alternative to them. BSA leaders will only refer a Scout elsewhere in cases of abuse, and then only to the proper authorities.
Now, it may be that the local Council may have agreed in principle for "sensitivity training" for their leaders without getting a detailed agreement on what that training's curriculum was to be. That was an error, which they should admit.
It may be that there was a proper agreement, but that the local gay advocacy groups tried to change the rules after the agreement was signed. That should be made public, if true.
Finally, it may be thatt the local Council was willing to do what was being asked, but that National Council found out the details and (properly) overrode them. If this is the actual case, I doubt that National will make this public. But, if the local Scout Executive is replaced soon, I'll come to figure that this is the most likely scenario.
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