That is Soooo Gay
Apparently the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is considering lifting its ban on gay leaders. I have thoughts on this. But before I launch into my thoughts I want to give you some background. For full disclosure, I’m an Eagle Scout. I’m a father of four boys; two of them have earned their Eagle. I suspect the other two will as well. I have been involved in Scouting for much of my adult life. I was a Scout master for six years, and I am currently a Cubmaster. I have never been employed by the BSA. I am not a spokesperson for them, nor am I a spokesperson for the church that sponsors the Scouting organization I’m involved in. The opinions I express here are my own.
I am sensitive to the feelings of members of the gay community. I have a member of my immediate family who is lesbian, and a member of my extended family who is gay.
In my latest BRILLIANTLY written article I said, “I’m a Conservative: as such, I don’t care about other adults. I expect other adults to care about themselves.” I want you to know that this applies to ones sexual orientation as well. It would be impossible for me to care less who consenting adults sleep with. I don’t care. The only thing that bothers me, as far as someone’s sexuality, is if you throw children or animals into the mix. If you are the pedophile you should be thrown in jail forever and if you’re into animals (literally or figuratively) you need therapy.
“But Danny,” you whine, “just because someone is gay doesn’t mean they are attracted to children.” Ummm…ya. I didn’t say they were. In fact, I want you to know that I completely agree with that statement. 100%. There is not a gay man alive who is more attracted to men than I am to women. Not one. I look at men around my age chasing after young women (early twenties) and I think they are idiots. To me a woman isn’t a woman until she is in her late twenties. (Quick side note: this is one of the reasons the Islamic faith doesn’t appeal to me. The idea of spending the eternities with 70 virgins sound like a nightmare. Promise me 70 porn stars and we’ll talk. I would rather be taught stuff. Ya know?) So if I, as a straight man, know I’m not attracted to young women or girls, why wouldn’t I extend the same courtesy toward gay men? Do I believe there are gay men who are also attracted to boys? Absolutely. Just like there are straight men attracted to boys.
So now that we have established a baseline, I’m almost ready to get to my point. I just need to say this. As you know I have been involved in Scouting a while. As such I believe I can speak with authority when I say it is a major, major pain in the butt. Is it rewarding? Yes. But you have to sift through a grotto of fossilized bat dung to find the one little nugget of reward. Most of the time it is PAINFUL. I question the sincerity of the members of GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and the members of Scouts for Equality. I doubt that they are really interested in investing the time it takes to be a good scout leaders. They just want to make a point. My guess is if the BSA lifted the ban tomorrow they would wave their rainbow flag and never be heard from again.
When camping there are rules that have to be followed. No adult leader can be in a tent with a Scout unless you are the parent or legal guardian of the young man. If said parent is sleeping in the same tent as a scout, no other adult leader is allowed in the tent. I believe these rules are brilliant.
Now let’s turn this 180 degrees. Let’s say I’m a male leader of a girls camp group. Would it be appropriate to sleep in the same tent as them? No, it wouldn’t. Hey, wait a minute, we have already established that I’m not attracted to girls. So what’s the problem? Okay, fine, whatever. I get it, I’ll just sleep in the same tent as little Becky Sue’s mom. Wait, what? That’s not appropriate either? Why not?
Because it’s not appropriate. That’s it. As a straight man I instinctively get that. Why wouldn’t gay men extend the same courtesy?
Scouting isn’t the place for social engineering. Scouting is about teaching young boys to be men. Real men are: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent (Scout Law). Real men “Do a Good Turn Daily” (Scout slogan). Real men believe they should “Be Prepared” (Scout motto). Can you be a gay man and exemplify these qualities? Of course.
Let boys be boys. Sex has no place in Scouting. Gay or Straight.
LIFEZILLA: How old do I have to be before I get this “adult super-vision” everybody insists I need? It sounds awesome.
If you are interested I wrote about a funny scouting experience HERE
