Let me be brief. The Supreme court case was not about what we believe or donot believe about gays. Nor.....is it even about gays. What the point of the judicial arguement really was is the fact that we admit to our volunteer ranks only those who share our beliefs since much of our program is about morality and right and wrong.
Personally, I believe that a gay person is no more likely to molest a boy than the general population. This is not what we are worried about.
When a gay is activist, the very fact that he/she is accepted by the BSA would fly directly in the face of our beliefs. We desire people who share our purpose and beliefs, not those that wish to change them. To those that do, I say "go your own way, but respect us for ours."
One of my responsibilities is youth protection training. This involves spotting child abuse of any kind, dealing with it with the help of the proper authority and preventing it from happening in the first place.
My personal feeling is that common sense would tell you that a activist gay man and a bunch of impressionable 12 year olds on a over nite or full week outing do not go together very well.
Could something happen?......yes. Would something happen?..........who knows?..... Could I have prevented it if it did happen?.............Absolutely!
Most of the molestation cases that I am aware of, occurred with straight men who were peodophiles. We look hard at everyone who comes to us. If they lie, there is little we could do to eliminate them. If they engage in behavior that is against our priciples, they must go! That goes for everyone!
I hope I have explained this. Please know that these are my opinions and mine alone.
Read my post #105 for more on this. But basically the point is this. The BSA is a private organization that is open to everyone that shares our beliefs and they must adhere to BSA guidelines. Being openly gay, just like in the military, is not in line with those guidelines, nor are many other things. We must have this right to freely associate with those who share our goals in order to do what we do.
My personal feeling is that common sense would tell you that a activist gay man and a bunch of impressionable 12 year olds on a over nite or full week outing do not go together very well.
why? If, as you say, you belive that most of the despicable child molesting incidents were inflicted by straight pedophiles, why would it be a greater problem to have a gay activist sleeping with them, than anyone else? In fact, as you yourself note:
If they lie, there is little we could do to eliminate them.
it seams to me that the gay activist would be less of a danger, than a someone else; if I, strictly hypothetically, was a pedophile, who wanted to molest some boy scouts, would I admit it to the BSA??? Ofcause not, I'd be crazy to. I'd pretend to be a straight, god-fearing christian man, who would only help and support your children. It seems to me, that expelling gay activists (whatever you mean by "gay activists"), because of "common sense", at best do you little good, and at worst lulls you into a false sense of security: The number of child molesters in the BSA (and there are most likely some), is probatly exactly the same now, as before the BSA activated it's policy concerning gays.