Posted on 05/27/2013 9:02:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Members of GLAAD, a nonprofit organization that promotes LGBT advocacy, was at the Boy Scouts of America's headquarters in Irving, Texas, on Friday – one day after the BSA's national council voted to allow openly gay membership – to advocate for additional policy changes acceptable to the gay community.
Former scouts Dave and Joe McGrath, a father and son duo who both earned the rank of Eagle Scout, biked 1,400 miles from Idaho Falls, Idaho, to the BSA's meeting in Grapevine to encourage the 1,400 voting delegates of the BSA's national council to vote in favor of the resolution to allow openly gay scouts, which passed by a vote of 61 to 39 percent. The ban on openly gay adult leaders is still in place.
On Friday, GLAAD documented Dave McGrath's entry into BSA headquarters to meet with staff and to deliver the LGBT community's 95 objections to their policies. Among these objections is the BSA's standing policy that bans adults who are openly gay from becoming scout leaders and volunteers.
Both factions of the scouting community – the LGBT scouts and traditional scouts – agree that the BSA's policies are now in conflict, because it accepts openly gay membership of students, but when they turn 18, they would then be ineligible to participate as scout leaders.
Many say the BSA's only option is to ask the national council delegates to vote on additional policy changes, possibly as soon as next year, to allow openly gay adults to become scout leaders and volunteers.
During Thursday's press conference outside the BSA's convention at the Gaylord Texan, Tico Perez, BSA national commissioner, refused to answer questions about lifting the ban on openly gay adults.
The policy change for openly gay youth will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, and will impact 116,000 scouting units, according to the BSA.
In a statement released Thursday evening, the BSA reiterated its support for the LGBT community by stating they wouldn't allow the organization to be "consumed by a single, divisive and unresolved societal issue."
"As the National Executive Committee just completed a lengthy review process, there are no plans for further review on this matter," the statement reads. "While people have different opinions about this policy, we can all agree that kids are better off when they are in Scouting."
Justin Bickford, communications director for Scouts for Equality, told CP on Thursday that their next mission is to push for openly gay leadership in the BSA. Many traditional scout leaders contend that gay adults are already serving as scout leaders and are doing so with discretion. Their disagreement is with the perceived sexual advocacy among the few LGBT leaders who were asked to leave the BSA for promoting their agenda.
John Stemberger, the founder of OnMyHonor, a coalition of scout leaders and parents of Boy Scouts members, consistently reiterated that gay scouts and gay scout leaders were actively participating in the BSA before Thursday's vote, and said there was never a ban on homosexuals in the scouts. According to Stemberger, "the BSA has a nondiscrimination policy," and the ban was on "gay activism" and "flaunting sexuality."
"With great sorrow, this will be last time I wear this uniform," Stemberger, whose coalition opposed membership changes, announced Thursday evening during the OnMyHonor press conference. He said his role will be to facilitate the process of deciding where the newly displaced scouting community will go, after being exiled from the BSA.
Stemberger said his movement includes "tens of thousands of parents, scouts that are disillusioned, troops that are going to fold and chartering partners."
On his website, OnMyHonor.Net, Stemberger has announced a June coalition meeting in Louisville, Ky., to "discuss the creation of a new character development organization for boys. We will host a national coalition meeting of former BSA parents and youth leaders who wish to return to timeless values that once made the BSA great."
Elizabeth Pritchard, the pack committee chair for Pack 928 in Southlake, Texas, told CP that she's been calling the American Heritage Girls to ask if they plan to start a program for boys. One program that has been announced is FaithBasedBoys.org, a newly created interdenominational organization for boys 5 to 18, that is scheduled to launch in the fall, and will receive guidance from American Heritage Girls.
Others who are departing the BSA en masse are waiting to see if the Royal Ambassadors, a Southern Baptist missions organization for boys in first through sixth grades, will be expanding their program to include the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 scouts who will be leaving the BSA.
I might also add that Vatican II council consisted of many theologians and philosophers. Among them the then Cardinal K. Vojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, who was Polish and who witnessed the Nazi as well as the communist takeover of that country, and first hand.
many of his friends and family were killed in that situation, and because of it.
He knew the dangers as well as the philosophy of communism and Marxism better than people seem to want to know.
And this is from Wikipedia (don’t forget he’s up there with m Thatcher and Reagan):
“John Paul II was acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. He is credited with helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. . . Though criticised for upholding the Church’s teachings against artificial contraception and the ordination of women, and for his support of the Church’s Second Vatican Council and its reform, he was also praised for his firm, orthodox Catholic stances. He is also renowned for his implementation of several papal documents pertaining to the role of the Church in the modern world”
Sure, Care to say something about your Catholic bashing?:
“I wish it were true, if you mean the Roman Catholic church according to the flesh (kata sarkos). Some “ideal church” which doesn’t count the perved priests, I suppose so. I can say that there would be a holy stir if this new Pope Francis decided to pay some of these gay parishes a personal visit to call them out on it. The internet has made the world small, this is not like St. Peter’s world.”
Well, JCP never was dedicated to spiritual integrity. The BSA was, in principle, and homosexuality is an outright attack upon spiritual integrity (launched from hell).
At the same time we must mix this with a Christian world view. As much as God makes it possible to us, love the sinner and hate the sin, which means do what we can in love and wisdom to try to separate the two without destroying the sinner.
Your post adds great impact to the discussion. Since the Catholic Church has done much to encourage the Boy Scouts in its parishes, how it deals with this latest turn of events will be one to watch. I have confidence they are not taking it lightly.
If I am unaware of events where Pope Francis did this in his office as pope, then I apologize for the gap in my knowledge and am cheered to learn that my view was flawed. You seemed to point out things he did prior to becoming pope. I hope he would keep it up now. But with previous popes, this has been well discussed in FR and we didn’t see it happening, if it did. This is meant by way of a helpful criticism, unless you view the pope as a stone statue or something that can only be praised or cursed and never influenced by prayer or otherwise.
The Mormons support getting more money, they opposed prop 8 yet support gay scouts because their affiliation with the BSA is a great retention tool. They have their 30 pieces of silver already spent...
And, if the shoe DOES fit you... then wear it, well actually get your foot fixed at the Doctor then get a better shoe.
Well I sure hope it does not end up with a bunch of high minded sounding compromise with the world. Some may view this as bashing and I can’t help them if they do.
Watch them.
Natl. Cath. Register.
I am shocked. Shocked! Who could have seen this coming? Duh.
LOL! When can the young things start earning their “Kali Yuga” merit badges?
I found this article in the National Catholic Register to be an excellent one on the subject:
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/boys-scouts-of-america-lifts-ban-on-homosexual-scouts/
The Boy Scouts are not dead. They are merely pining for the fjords.
The Catholic church will never change its stance on homosexuality and gender.
The US Church, is to adhere to the Holy See, the Vatican, and it tends to get a little off track as it struggles with pressure fro all sides.
I like to watch those who keep that in mind.
my own Pastor, Cardinal Chaput, of Philadelphia, Cardinal Burke, who is in Rome at the Vatican and ALL of the good priests and theologians regularly featured on Catholic radio and EWTN TV.
It is very nuanced when figuring out why they can comment on certain political, social issues, and not at all on others.
Confusing. It sounds like it is in a don’t ask don’t tell mode acceptable to religious groups and objectionable to LGBT.
Is that the case, and the media is trying to spin it otherwise?
Not going to happen. BSA National, i.e., the professionals in Irving, TX, have become subjects to their corporate donors who dominate the ~23 member National Executive Committee. The next National President will be elected at the annual National Council business meeting 1 year from now. It is expected to be Randall Stephenson, who is currently a V-P on the BSA National Executive Committee, and just happens to be CEO of AT&T. AT&T's corporate HQ is in Dallas, not far at all from BSA National HQ in Irving, TX. Randall Stephenson was very instrumental in making this membership rule change happen. Judging by the 61-39% vote, there are not enough conservative councils, out of ~ 294 total, to mount a credible effort to dumb the National Executive Committee.
Evil will never stop until they remove all moral authority over good!
Well, we can hope that this elitist BSA board is as blindsided as the board @ J.C. Penney. They, too, thought they could ram the homosexual agenda on JCP’s commoner customer base without consequences. They learned.
A few points to keep in perspective ...
1. The BSA policy goes into effect 7 months from now. Something can happen between now and then.
2. There is an outside chance the Roman Catholic Church may still balk at this change. Especially when they realize that the homosexualists are going to the wall for inclusion of homosexual adult leaders.
3. How will the SCOTUS rulings break next month on Prop 8 and DoMA?
4. The BSA National Executive Committee, ~23 members, are totally in the bag for diversity/homosexual equality. Most of these guys are big suits at Fortune 500 Companies which are in the bag of the Human Rights Campaign for homosexual equality, e.g., Randall Stephenson CEO of AT&T, James Turley CEO of Ernst & Young, Rex Tillerson CEO of Exxon-Mobil. The current BSA National President, Wayne Perry, sold his company to AT&T and is a lifelong member of the LDS Church. It is extremely unlikely that a coup can be mounted against the National Executive Committee.
5. Arguing with your local BSA professionals is pointless. They will toe the company line because that is where their paycheck, health care and retirement benefits are.
6. Keep an eye on John Stemberger and OnMyHonor.Net. They may well come up with a strategy this summer.
7. Get your Eagle Scout prospects through before 1/01/2014.
8. Inform yourself of other conservative youth group options: (1) Royal Rangers, (2) Christian Service Brigade, (3) Royal Rangers, (4) Marine Corps League, (5) Calvinist Cadet Corps, and (6) Young Minutemen of America. The Baden-Powell Scout Association is not an option. They do not discriminate against sexual orientation.
9. Hit the local councils where it hurts - in the pocket book. (1) Discontinue contributing to FoS (Friends of Scouting), (2) discontinue selling/buying Trails End Popcorn - local councils get ~ 30% commission on every sale, (3) if possible, discontinue contributing to the United Way - local councils depend on the UW's annual contributions. Yes, you will hurt some good not-for-profit groups out there that receive UW funding, but the UW today is virtually totally occupied with diversity.
10. If you have the option, you might choose not to buy products/services from companies that support homosexual equality.
http://issuu.com/humanrightscampaign/docs/hrc-cei-2011-final
3M
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Campbell Soup
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Kraft Foods
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MillerCoors
Nationwide
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Prudential Time Warner
United Airlines
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http://nglcc.org/files/nglcc-splash/index.html
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