The Boy Scouts Made Me Gay

[zsdersw]

http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2013/02/25/boy-scouts-made-me-gay

The embattled institution helps young men discover their sexuality—including me
The current fervor over whether or not the Boy Scouts should accept homosexuals into their ranks misses a far more salient point: we're already there. In fact, scouting has provided such an impressive forum for young men to come to terms with their sexual identity that one is left to wonder whether the Scouts are in fact an agent of Sodom, promoting the homosexual agenda with greater fervor than a Broadway Cruise to South Beach. Viewed in this light, the organization's recent political posturing takes on an air of absurdity. The Scouts has served enough time as the quintessential corporate closet case—it's high time that the B.S.A. started embracing its inner G.A.Y.

As a young New Yorker questioning his sexuality during the Reagan years, I turned to the Boy Scouts, Ed Koch, and episodes of Magnum P.I., to reaffirm my red-blooded masculinity. One would think the Scouts were my best bet to be on the straight and narrow. But after securing Merit badges in bird watching, gardening, pottery, and theater—to say nothing of the extracurricular fun we had earning the plumbing and leatherwork merit badges—I came to realize that I was, well, screwed. It was as if I were living in my own private Yossi & Jagger prequel (but with regrettably fewer Israelis). I’m not blameless—and should have seen the signs earlier. With form-fitting military uniforms and requisite neckerchiefs, overnight camping trips in close quarters, and the National Jamboree—whose slogan is “Go Big. Get Wild!”—my heterosexuality didn’t stand a chance.

I grew up harboring no resentment towards the Scouts for pushing me to gay it forward. In fact, as a successful man completely at peace with his sexuality, I thought I might owe them a belated "Thank You" for the assist. But when the BSA started aggressively espousing vitriol towards homosexuals, I felt jilted at the altar. First in 1991—borrowing a page from the Joseph McCarthy playbook—the Scouts proclaimed that, “known or avowed homosexuals are not an appropriate role models of the Scout Oath and Law.” In action after action since, from The Scouts of America v. Dale (2000) to the Support Our Scouts Act (2005), the organization has systematically codified its homophobia with moves only a praying mantis could appreciate. This denunciation rings as hollow as a Larry Craig airport press conference, and it is equally ineffectual. Avoidance may be the currency of politics, but it certainly won’t make the Scouts any less gay.

The BSA cites the U.S. Constitution in defense of its admission policies, reminding critics that if we don't like the way they operate, we don't have to join. Many corporate sponsors, including Intel and UPS (but not yet Verizon. Can you hear me now?) have taken them up on their offer. And while it is true that a private organization can exclude whomever it wants, the Boy Scouts are as private as a public restroom—and just as dirty. Our government allows the Scouts to operate under a Congressional charter, our military provides automatic promotion to Eagle Scouts, and our president serves as the honorary President of the BSA. This does not meet any plausible threshold of the private distinction—and they know it.

I never realized that the "honest and trustworthy" portions of the Boy Scout oath operated on a sliding scale. I may have been with the Scouts once upon a time, but we are never—ever—getting back together.

The Scouts have become a self-destructive shadow of their former self, a group whose preoccupation with exclusion belies the very principles that appealed to me as a youth. That the organization whose motto, “Be prepared,” finds itself throwing a Hail Mary pass for continued relevance is as much an exercise in ironic masochism as it is one of futility. Game over, BSA. Shame on you for not first recognizing—and then embracing—your role as perpetuator of homosexual iconography. Then again, with an entree to the organization called Webelos (really, weblows?), maybe they are in on the joke after all.

A good (and often funny) opinion piece on the BSA.

 

[Greenman]

Tripe.

 

[OverVolt]

Good thing I quit the BSA early.

When I was younger it seemed like an organization to get your parents involved. Helped me build my little car thing and helped me learn how to build stuff on my grand parents workbench etc.

 

[nextJin]

I'm getting tired of all these gay posts by zsdersw, obviously he is gay and good for him but this story is retarded. The averages are likely on par with national averages and again they are a private organization.

A better fight would be had with almost any other topic since the scouts actually provide a net positive to the country.

 

[irishScott]

*sigh*

Why does everyone care so much about the BSA? I was a Boy Scout and we didn't care as much. The BSA has very little effective central authority, and is organized into cells known as "troops". These troops are made up of parents and boys from a variety of localities, and usually reflect the values of those living in said locality, despite the lip service given to the BSA central authority.

For example, when I went to my first Boy Scout Camp (essentially a 1-week summer camp where you sleep outside and work on merit badges), there was a ceremony inducting certain scouts into the "Order of the Arrow", the Boy Scout Honor Society. This ceremony included a guy dressed up like a Native American walking around, whooping and stabbing an arrow into the ground in front of the inductees.

Now this is supposed to be a solemn event, but my friends an I were kids and couldn't help but giggle at the sight of it. None of our scout-masters intervened, but one from another troop openly glared at us. We wondered why he had such a stick up his ass.

Point being, you can't paint the BSA with a broad brush anymore than you can paint Idaho and New York with the same brush, and I'm finding all of these articles to be quite tunnel-visioned.

 

[Ausm]

I was happy to when I was in the Boy Scouts.

 

[nehalem256]

*sigh*

Why does everyone care so much about the BSA? I was a Boy Scout and we didn't care as much. The BSA has very little effective central authority, and is organized into cells known as "troops". These troops are made up of parents and boys from a variety of localities, and usually reflect the values of those living in said locality, despite the lip service given to the BSA central authority.

Any group that opposes liberal ideological vision must be destroyed. Dissent will not be tolerated.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Canteen Boy is that you?

 

[Greenman]

I'm getting tired of all these gay posts by zsdersw, obviously he is gay and good for him but this story is retarded. The averages are likely on par with national averages and again they are a private organization.

A better fight would be had with almost any other topic since the scouts actually provide a net positive to the country.

I think I'm with you on this one. It's time to get over it.

 

[zsdersw]

I'm getting tired of all these gay posts by zsdersw,

I think I'm with you on this one. It's time to get over it.

And yet you both posted in this thread. I'm getting tired of people who post in a thread about how they're sick of that kind of thread. IF YOU'RE SICK OF IT, DON'T POST IN IT... AND, HERE'S A THOUGHT, DON'T READ IT.

Obviously that's too difficult for some of you... so you can go fuck yourselves.

If you don't like the threads I make, too fucking bad. I'm under no obligation to please you.

 

[zsdersw]

Any group that opposes liberal conservative ideological vision must be destroyed. Dissent will not be tolerated.

True, just ask GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans how much power and influence they have.

 

[nehalem256]

True, just ask GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans how much power and influence they have.

Maybe they don't have much influence because *gasp* they are small?

 

[zsdersw]

Maybe they don't have much influence because *gasp* they are small?

Maybe they're small because they are barred from major Republican party events.

 

[nehalem256]

Maybe they're small because they are barred from major Republican party events.

I am sure it has nothing to do with at most maybe 5% of people being LGBT :hmm:

 

[classy]

I'm getting tired of all these gay posts by zsdersw, obviously he is gay and good for him but this story is retarded. The averages are likely on par with national averages and again they are a private organization.

A better fight would be had with almost any other topic since the scouts actually provide a net positive to the country.

:thumbsup:

 

[zsdersw]

I am sure it has nothing to do with at most maybe 5% of people being LGBT :hmm:

A supposedly "big tent" party like the GOP shouldn't be excluding anyone. Even if your 5% figure is accurate, that 5% would've given the GOP the White House this past November.

Groups like the Human Rights Campaign, probably the largest GLBT advocacy group, has a membership that includes many people who are heterosexual.

 

[zsdersw]

:thumbsup:

Why did you post in this thread? If your intention was to be an idiot, you succeeded.

 

[nehalem256]

A supposedly "big tent" party like the GOP shouldn't be excluding anyone. Even if your 5% figure is accurate, that 5% would've given the GOP the White House this past November.

Assuming that all LGBT individuals voted Republican.

Assuming that pandering to LGBT did not cause anyone to not vote Republican.

Do those seem like sensible assumptions to you?

 

[zsdersw]

Assuming that all LGBT individuals voted Republican.

A lot of them would if the GOP didn't oppose the things they advocate (gay marriage, adoption, anti-discrimination laws).

Assuming that pandering to LGBT did not cause anyone to not vote Republican.

This gains more votes from moderates and independents than it loses from those who oppose GLBT issues.

Do those seem like sensible assumptions to you?

Yes. As I've said to you time and time again the facts are as follows:

- Generationally, support for GLBT people and the issues they advocate is growing, not lessening.

- Independents and moderates are a far larger group of people than either evangelical right-wingers or hardcore leftists.

- Even if they don't care about gay marriage or adoption, independents and moderates are more likely to vote for a gay person or someone who advocates for GLBT issues than a Bible-thumping anti-GLBT person. This is already true, and is getting more and more true as the years go by.

- Generationally, the Republican party will lose more and more if they continue to take anti-GLBT positions on issues and push for anti-GLBT legislation.

I hope you live long enough to see happen the things that you oppose.

 

[nextJin]

And yet you both posted in this thread. I'm getting tired of people who post in a thread about how they're sick of that kind of thread. IF YOU'RE SICK OF IT, DON'T POST IN IT... AND, HERE'S A THOUGHT, DON'T READ IT.

Obviously that's too difficult for some of you... so you can go fuck yourselves.

If you don't like the threads I make, too fucking bad. I'm under no obligation to please you.

I posted in to make the point that the averages are the same and that there are many more important issues than attacking the boy scouts. You beat the military, after you beat the boy scouts who are ya'll going after next?

Chick filet has to be somewhere on that list. My comment on being tired of these threads are that you are actually trying to be serious but at the same time you're the only one who cares. I don't even post in actual troll posts, this isin't a troll post it's just a stupid one.

 

[classy]

Why did you post in this thread? If your intention was to be an idiot, you succeeded.

THe GSA and BSA believe in promoting tradtional sense of male and female values. They are a private organization who's track record is pretty good. Nobody gives a rats ass because you want everyone to be gay..................

 

[michal1980]

if an organization can make someone gay, then some other organization can make them straight. right?

since no one can make someone straight, no one can make someone gay. you are what you are.

 

[zsdersw]

I posted in to make the point that the averages are the same and that there are many more important issues than attacking the boy scouts. You beat the military, after you beat the boy scouts who are ya'll going after next?

Whining that there are more important issues is a pretty stupid thing to do on a forum, particularly P&N. I'm not exactly sure what the fuck you were expecting.

Chick filet has to be somewhere on that list. My comment on being tired of these threads are that you are actually trying to be serious but at the same time you're the only one who cares. I don't even post in actual troll posts, this isin't a troll post it's just a stupid one.

I don't care.. you're entitled to your opinion, no matter how wrong it is.

 

[zsdersw]

THe GSA and BSA believe in promoting tradtional sense of male and female values. They are a private organization who's track record is pretty good. Nobody gives a rats ass because you want everyone to be gay..................

Nobody gives a rats ass what you think, either... but, here we are.

I don't want everyone to be gay... in fact, I wish quite a few people weren't.

 

[Ausm]

Nobody gives a rats ass what you think, either... but, here we are.

I don't want everyone to be gay... in fact, I wish quite a few people weren't.

What point in your life did you decide to be straight?