I agree with you.
I too have been an Assistant Scout Master and any kind of hazing is required to be stopped.
Someone else mentioned that this boy should have been kicked out for being homosexual...I don’t believe that is a requirement for scouts. The Boy Scouts policy is against leaders being homosexual. I don’t recall anything which prevents boys who think they are homosexual from being a scout. However, I believe that once a scout becomes an Eagle Scout, they automatically, at age 18, become an adult leader, so that could have played into this.
Finally, if all his project was was a “tolerance wall”, I seriously doubt that would pass muster as a serious community project. I know that wimpy of a project would never get approved in my troop or by my council.
The rank of Eagle Scout has to be earned and it isn’t meant to be given to every scout who just “puts in the time.” There has to be real leadership shown and the rank of Eagle can be denied at many points along the path. I know. I have two sons who are Eagle Scouts, and it wasn’t an easy time of just putting in time. They had to demonstrate real leadership.
As a Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster who now helps young men in our troop reach the rank of Eagle, here are my comments:
1) Boys of the age of 6 can be in Cub Scouts and then get to Boy Scouts at the age of 10 1/2.
2) I always tell the young men that there are two ways they can fail to get their Eagle rank during a board of review: if they say they don’t believe in some heavenly power or if they say they are gay. Being gay DOES keep a Scout from being a Boy Scout because of the “morally straight” part of the Scout Oath.
3) Boy Scouts does not despise homosexuals. Rather, it’s all about being appropriate and setting priorities. Just as a young man who sires illegitimate children isn’t morally straight, so is any young man who places his sexuality above all other priorities. In the case of this young man and many others, you must decided whether being a gay activist is more important than being a Boy Scout. You can’t have it both ways. Boys Scouts does not want to be involved in sexuality—to do so is ENTIRELY inappropriate.
On my honor....to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and MORALLY STRAIGHT. Nuff said.
The B.S.A.’s policy is that “avowed homosexuals” are not to be registered in Scouting. Basically, if you come out publicly you are not longer eligible to be in the B.S.A. The policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is strictly enforced; there is at least one instance of a Scout having been asked, tossed out, and then reinstated by National. But what we see here is that this young man put it in writing to his Scoutmaster that he was gay. At that point he became ineligible - but not before.
Eagle Scouts do not automatically become an adult leader on their 18th birthday, nor does any Scout. They have to fill out an Adult application just like anyone else. It’s pretty common, though, that Scouts who have stayed in their Troop through their 18th birthday are encouraged to become Assistant Scoutmasters.