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From the San Jose Mercury News’ LAPD to cut ties with group linked to Boy Scouts:
The Los Angeles Police Department wants to stop working with the organization that runs its Explorer program for youths because the group is linked to Boy Scouts of America, which bans gays from becoming members.The organization, Learning for Life, was spun off from Boy Scouts of America.
A department official told the Police Commission Tuesday that the Boy Scouts policy is “inconsistent” with the city’s policy of non-discrimination. He suggested that the department manages the Explorer program itself…
It’s more than just gay youth effected by discrimination policies of the Boy Scouts, but also lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and parents & guardians and Boy Scout leaders — as well as non-theist and atheist parents & guardians and Boy Scout leaders.
That L.A. wants to cut ties with the Boy Scouts running their Explorer program is pretty satisfying to me. However, this leaves me wondering if we have such a program in San Diego, and if we do, this leaves me wondering if the Boy Scouts are involved with my city’s Explorer program.
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My hubby and I talked about adoptionand, of the many discussions we had about discipline, family policy on such fraught topics as hair length for boys, age for makeup, age for dating, clothing and schooling, the most angry, and the one we never resolved, was Scouting.
I said hell no, no child of mine will ever belong to the Boy Scouts. There are alternatives, and how could he even think that was appropriate?
My husband the Eagle Scout said he’d enjoyed his time as a Scout and he would want that for our son (assuming a boy).
Fortunately, we opted not to adopt, so this is an academic discussion. I still have no idea how he can mentally justify being willing to send a child of ours to an organization that would teach him his own family is sub-standard.
A catch 22I’m gay and was in explorers. I loved it. It showed me the “other side” of public safety. Explorers is run/owned by the scouts. Its a group they setup for high school student/early college to join. The current BSA policy bothers me, but I’d hate to see people miss the opportunity to do something like explorers. I don’t know of any other organization that is doing it.
If there is a non-scout run option available, put it in place. If this kills the explorer program in the department, I’d hate to see it go.
Yeah!Institutionalized homophobia is on it’s way out.
I was a queer Boy ScoutI was in an Explorer post based out of NASA in high school. It was awesome – I loved the program, the volunteer leaders and the other Explorers. I do agree that the Boy Scouts should get no public funding for their programs until their anti-discrimination policies are at least adequate, I am also sad that young people like me are going to miss out on the Explorers as a result. However, that is entirely under the Boy Scouts control.
Let’s not forgetThe Mormon-owned BSA also had its sights set on excising the Unitarians from the BSA, removing their religion’s badge, and almost got up to the point of revoking the charters of Unitarian-run Scouting groups.
Thankfully, only the BSA has such bigotry — AFAIK, World Scouting is fully inclusive of TLBGs and non-theists in their ranks and leadership.
Once again the US proves culturally, it’s a backwards country while the rest of the world leaves us behind!
Opinion from a Gay Eagle Boy ScoutI loved being a boy scout and reached the top as Eagle.
During all my years in the organization, I never once heard the word gay until the 1980s when the Mormans infiltrated this once good organization and brought it to the homohating oranization that it is today.
Hell, I don’t even give to the United Way anymore after the local UW refused to stop giving to the homobigots.
LA should cut ties with this organization and I am rather shocked that they didn’t do so about 15 years ago when these anti gay policies of the BSA were made VERY public. Having said that, better late than never.
Good for LA.