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Just sick – and California Scout Ryan Andresen’s main project was a “wall of tolerance.” (ABC):
His project, a “tolerance wall,” was inspired by the years of hazing he endured in middle school in Moraga, Calif., and later at Boy Scout summer camp, where his nicknames were “Tinkerbell” and “faggot.”
“I had I had no idea what gay was at that point,” said Andresen, who described hazing that included, among other rituals, having the word “fag” written in charcoal across his chest.
His mom, Karen Andresen, was so upset by the troops’ decision that she posted a petition on Change.org that has topped more than 22,000 signatures.
“It was not his idea, it was mine,” she said.
His mom will appear on “Ellen” to discuss what happened. Ryan came out publicly in July by sending a letter to his troop declaring his support for another bullied scout.
The Boy Scouts of America spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement: “The scout proactively notified his unit leadership and Eagle Scout consoler that he does not agree to the scouting’s principle of ‘duty to God’ and does not meet scouting’s membership standard on sexual orientation.”
Yes, and bullying does represent “duty to God.’ Here’s video from ABC:
17 Comments
Heterosexual men have been hazed and bullied since the beginning of time. I’m sick of gays pretending gay people don’t make others uncomfortable. It’s not normal at all.
My advice is to not think about gays quite so much, Jim. Especially if it makes you sick. That can be one of the first signs that you may be catching it.
I suspect that if you are sick, it’s because you repress the feelings that leave you confused and fearful when you find yourself mindful that some of your fellow countrymen are gay.
There is help for this sort of sickness.
OTOH, you might not be that kind of sick at all, you could be a victim of bullying who feels bullying someone else is the ‘natural’ thing to do.
That’s different.
!
I went and forgot the whole contagion thing.
Writing on other people’s chests with charcoal, on the other hand, is as normal as can be, right?
Sad to say, the Boy Scouts appear to be siding more with you than with me. That makes me very uncomfortable. I will, however, refrain from beating the crap out of someone at their national office.
I’m a den leader for cub scouts and a Catholic. Or I was a Catholic until the organization decided to jump over a cliff rather than allow women to have any freedom whatsoever regarding positions in the church and birth control. Why can’t these organizations shake these hateful ways and update their dogma to turn these “degenerate” moral failings into natural conditions given by God? Even if you can’t come to fully welcome homosexuality, at least admitting it was decided by God (or nature) and not a choice would make a world of difference in the attitude of the organization.
Scouts is not as bad as the Church IMHO, but the backlash against gays and atheists should be dealt with, the BSA is doing themselves, and what is otherwise an excellent program for boys, a great disservice by not stepping up. At the upper levels the conservatism runs quite deep, so I can’t see this changing anytime too soon. There is a struggle happening though, you see snippets of it in the news now and again. Eventually they will change with the times, they’ll have to. Until then, I find it heartbreaking that the BSA (and the Church) is allowing this sort of hateful malaise to be the sheltered by their organizations. This poor kid and what he had to endure to be a scout should never be allowed to happen.
So the Scout leadership is concerned about the boys’ “sexual orientation”, eh. That is mighty queer of them.
This makes me sick. Scouting was one of the few places in society where a boy could mix independent but guided learning with non-parental supervised activities. It was an important rite of passage for me and many of my friends.
Back in the 70s, there were a number of boys scouts who later realized or became strong enough to announce that they were gay. Usually it happened after high school or once scouting no longer provided the excitement they wanted or after they were singled out and bullied.
Being a young male is often synonymous with being a self-centered jerk. It is a messy and unpleasant part of growing up and coming of age. As the father of a 12 year old daughter, I can attest that evolution has not changed this pattern of male development very much. But even back then, we were taught by our leaders that there were lines that we were not allowed to cross under any circumstances. We were taught to respect other races and not to discriminate and we knew that there would be consequences if we engaged in such activities. We were taught not to endanger others — whether it be on the rifle range or rolling boulders down the hill on camp outs. We were even taught not to bully or pick on someone if they were different.
I thought these rules were absolute. Youth are impressionable. They will listen and learn — especially by example. This is a colossal failure of leadership. Yes, I know the BSA has kicked out scout leaders who were gay (which I think is short sighted and hypocritical). But they always said that they would not exclude a boy who was gay. I thought they were serious. The logic that the BSA gave after the first supreme court decision was that punishing a boy could scar him for life. They obviously have “etch-a-sketched” their position.
When I was 14, a 45 year old scout leader who didn’t like me told me he was going to everything in his power to keep me from getting my eagle scout, even though I had fulfilled all but a couple or requirements. I was devastated. I felt like I was punched in the gut and could not breathe. I know first hand how cruel it is for anyone to destroy a kid’s hope and dreams. Just before I turned 18, I finished the last requirement and earned the Eagle rank. I still think that my scout leader was a massive jerk, and that his actions still have bitter repercussions in my psyche.
Boy Scouts teaches young boys and men to leave a child, a campground, a community, the world a better place than they found it. Ryan Andersen’s Scout Masters, the leaders at the local council, and the national leaders (including their national apologist Deron Smith) are not fit to be leaders in the world the boy scouts claim to be preparing today’s youth to lead.
If Ryan Andersen would show me that he has fulfilled all his requirements for the rank of Eagle Scout, I would gladly confer to him my Eagle Scout medal.
Ryan Andresen should be proud of himself for having become an Eagle Scout whether the homophobic Scout leaders anoint him or not… and doubly proud that he successfully overcame unfair treatment along the way.
That is a wonderful idea. I would proudly do the same. Maybe someone could set up a post office box in collaboration with the Andersen family. We could each send a letter to BSA informing the hierarchy of our decision. That young man needs to know he is not alone among scouts.
Recently I chose not to provide biographical information so I would not appear in an Eagle Scout directory. I do not contribute to BSA. (The local troop fundraising door to door is an exception.)
It’s truly saddens me. I got a lot from being a boy scout. I would like to give something back. I can’t do it when they create this environment for young men whose only crime is gradually becoming aware of their sexual orientation.
My letter to the Boy Scouts, (and Jim @ 1):
In light of your ongoing crusade against gay, bisexual and transgendered Boy Scouts and leaders, I’ve been thinking. Maybe you should change your name to “Bigoted Scouts of America”. I’m sure Fred Phelps would love to donate space to meet in and that Chik-Fil-A would provide food. Then all of you self loathing closet cases could selectively enforce Leviticus till your black ol’ hearts are content. You call yourselves “Christian” yet Christ said exactly nothing about gay people. Instead you decide which parts of the Old Testament to enforce and which to ignore, which brings me to my question: How often do you badmouth people who are different than yourselves while munching down bacon sandwiches on Sunday or over steamed oysters at the local sports bar? On a related topic, don’t you find it embarrassing that this godless, old Atheist knows more about what your absurd religious book says than you do?
And I hope nobody likes it! Especially Jim.
I still donate to my old troop as well. They don’t discriminate, nor does the NYC regional office to my knowledge. This whole thing saddens me too.
Oh, and thanks Pam for the article. Not pleasant news to be made aware of (nor do I imagine you enjoy being the messenger of such news), but appreciated nonetheless.
Then you are part of the problem. Until the funding dries up because of their policies, they have no incentive to change and whether you think they discriminate or not is irrelevant. A good many patriotic German Jews waved swastikas around between the time the Nazis restored prosperity and the Kristallnacht event occurred. There is no such thing as “benign” when a group, any group is associated, affiliated or under the umbrella of an organization which is bigoted as a matter of official policy. Period.
I agree with you. I don’t give money, but I think I am in the directory. I sent an email to Ryan’s mom on the Change.org exchange with my offer. Thanks Pam for bringing this issue to our attention.
Interestingly, the troop has a website with their values. Sexual orientation is not mentioned. Bullying is — and is grounds for being kicked out of the troop. Their scoutmaster, Rainer “Rhino” Del Valle, Eagle Scout #91 seems like he has violated a number of items in their code book, for which the book suggests expulsion from the troop.
http://www.bsa-troop212.org/forms/Parent_Guide_and_Resource_Book.pdf?20121006135823
So I guess that if gays make heterosexuals uncomfortable, then the opposite must also be true. Stupid, huh? Homophobia is a condition of your own sexual insecurity. Get educated, quit being a victim of ignorance. And please don’t invoke the God thing. No one living or dead has ever spoken directly with God, and no one, not even you can claim they know what God thinks.
I really don’t understand their point of view.
1) Boy Scouts favors religions. They even advertise which religions they favor by having a set of badges for specific religions. Here’s the list (warning: link to BSA site):
http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Awards/ReligiousAwards/chart.aspx
2) A number of these religions perform same-gendered marriage, in whole or in (large) part(s).
3) I really don’t understand what to conclude from #1 and #2. Is the BSA blind to some of the religions that they favor, despite some of these religions having changed their policies recently and publicly? Is the BSA trying to subvert the “duty to God” in their own members?
On the other hand, I could change the topic to religion and the BSA, change a few details, and have pretty much the same comments – they require devotion to a religion, and call it a “duty to God” when some of the religions they favor don’t have a singular deity.
Perhaps the correct conclusion to reach is that logic isn’t a strong point in the BSA leadership.