Food Network Reneges on Boy Scout Troop by Aaron Atwood, assistant editor
TV's Food Network takes Boy Scout idea off the table.
When the Food Network asked "How do you Iron Chef?" on its Web site, Boy Scout Troop 99 of Colorado Springs responded. They were accepted—then rejected because they pledge to "being morally straight."
The troop had been doing Iron Chef competitions at campouts and Scoutmaster Dave Maher thought a vignette of his troop cooking up a storm would make a great promo for the company.
The competition gives two chefs an identical cache of food and challenges each to outdo the other in creativity and taste. Maher's crew takes cooking seriously and had the Boy Scout version of the popular TV program down to a science. Maher said some of the food threw the Scouts for a loop.
"One of the foods I put in initially was an eggplant," Maher said. "A lot had never seen it before."
Maher answered the casting call and the producers responded. In a few weeks Maher was discussing with the show's staff the logistics of hauling cameras to its next campout. Would there be electricity? Do you need parking? What date works best?
The excitement faded when Food Network producers took the idea to parent company, E.W. Scripps.
"It went to Scripps for a rubber stamp but got shot down at corporate approval," Maher explained. "Scripps was unwilling to work with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) because of the Boy Scouts' position—policies which they perceive are the Boy Scouts' discriminatory practices on gays."
This isn't the first time BSA has been singled out for a perceived anti-gay agenda. Several lawsuits have been brought against the nearly century-old organization by the American Civil Liberties Union in recent years. In fact, Congress is getting involved after the Department of Defense balked at allowing Boy Scouts to use military facilities. As Scouts from around the world converged on Fort A.P. Hill, Va. for the 2005 National Scout Jamboree, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., took to the floor of the Senate to propose the Support Our Scouts Act 2005.
"This legislation . . . is necessary to press back on the lawsuits that seek to sever the ties between our military, which has hosted the Boy Scout Jamboree on its bases, and the Boy Scouts of America," he said. "America's youth can learn so much from the men and women in uniform today: love of country, commitment to values, sacrifice for others. It is simply wrongheaded to conclude that Pentagon support of the Boy Scouts of America violates the establishment clause. It is time to return some common sense to the courts."
The lawsuits stem from the unabashed religious thread woven through BSA policy. In 2002 the Executive Board of BSA issued a resolution stating, "(T)he national officers agree with the report that 'duty to God is not a mere ideal for those choosing to associate with the Boy Scouts of America; it is an obligation,' which has defined good character for youth of Scouting age throughout Scouting's 92-year history and that the Boy Scouts of America has made a commitment 'to provide faith-based values to its constituency in a respectful manner.' "
The resolution continued in waters where many politically correct are unwilling to tread: "WHEREAS the national officers further agree that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the traditional values espoused in the Scout Oath and Law and that an avowed homosexual cannot serve as a role model for the values of the Oath and Law."
The Scripps decision to nix the Boy Scouts' campout would have little consequence had it only affected Maher. However, Forrest Eaglin, a 12-year-old Tenderfoot in Troop 99 had to come to terms with the fact that he wasn't considered worth being on TV because of the oath he'd taken.
"I was really amazed (at being on the Food Network) because this has pretty much never happened in the troop," he said. "Everybody was thrilled."
But when they got the message that the deal was off?
"I felt really disappointed. We were, like, all excited to have them come and film us. It really bummed us out."
Eaglin will still go on the July camping trip. He's excited because he has earned enough rank to sleep in his own tent. But the Food Network will miss the opportunity to show what America truly values—not the Iron Chef—the Iron Will.
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