GRAPEVINE, Texas – The Boy Scouts of America’s National
Council voted late May 23 to allow openly gay youths
admittance as members into the 103-year-old organization,
effective Jan. 1, 2014.
In a statement, the organization said the decision to review
the organization’s ban on accepting homosexuals as members
was made based on “growing input from within the Scouting
family.”
“Today, following this review, the most comprehensive
listening exercise in Scouting’s history, the approximate
1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America’s National
Council approved a resolution to remove the restriction
denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual
orientation alone,” the statement said.
The announcement was made at the Boy Scouts of America’s
annual national meeting, held at the Gaylord Texan Resort in
Grapevine. The organization said it did not reconsider its
ban on homosexual adults as Scout leaders and that the policy
remains in place.
“The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or
the youth served by the movement, by allowing the
organization to be consumed by a single, divisive and
unresolved societal issue,” the statement added. “As the
National Executive Committee just completed a lengthy review
process, there are no plans for further review on this
matter.”
The announcement of the policy change comes amid intense
debate about the role of homosexuals in the Boy Scouts of
America.
The National Catholic Committee on Scouting said that since
the policy change does not take effect until next January, it
will have “adequate time to study its effects.”
“The NCCS will determine how it may impact Catholic chartered
Scout units and activities. In doing so, we will work within
the teachings of our Catholic faith and with the various
local bishops and their diocesan Scouting committees,” the
Catholic organization said in a statement.
The Catholic Church teaches that people “who experience a
homosexual inclination or a same sex attraction are to be
treated with respect recognizing the dignity of all persons,”
the statement said.
“The church’s teaching is clear that engaging in sexual
activity outside of marriage is immoral,” it continued.
“Individuals who are open and avowed homosexuals promoting
and engaging in homosexual conduct are not living lives
consistent with Catholic teaching.”
In a separate statement, the Washington Archdiocese said the
Boy Scouts of America policy change “does not affect the
teachings of the Catholic Church and the manner in which the
Archdiocese of Washington conducts the Scouting programs
under its purview.”
“Scouting programs seek to instill the importance of duty to
God and to country, and groups chartered through the Catholic
Church witness to the faith while continuing to provide an
opportunity to involve youth in the life of the local
parish,” it said in a statement.
“The church, through its clergy and lay leaders, has the
responsibility to teach the Gospel and encourage all people
to live out the teachings of Christ — regardless of their
sexual preference,” it added.
The Denver Archdiocese in a statement said that the Catholic
Church “agrees that no group should reduce a person to their
sexual orientation or proclivity. However, the moral
formation of youth must include a firm commitment to
respecting and promoting an authentic vision of sexuality
rooted in the Gospel itself.”
“While the Archdiocese of Denver will continue to allow
parish-chartered Scouting organizations,” it said, “we will
be steadfast in articulating a Christian understanding of
human dignity and sexuality.”
At a news conference in Grapevine, John Stemberger, founder
of OnMyHonor.Net, said that “on this day, the most
influential youth program in America has turned a very tragic
corner.” His organization is a nationwide coalition of
parents, Scout leaders, Scouting donors, Eagle Scouts and
other members of the Boy Scouts.
“The Boy Scouts of America has a certain logo and it has this
phrase ‘Timeless Values.’ Today the BSA can no longer, in
good faith, use this phrase,” he said. “It has demonstrated
by its actions that the organization’s values are, in fact,
not timeless. Instead, they are governed by the changing
winds of polls, politics and public opinion.”
Stemberger said that according to the Boy Scouts’ own
assessment, the move will cause as many as 400,000 current
members to leave the organization.
“They also predicted they will lose $30 million of their $300
million budget,” Stemberger said. “That’s their estimates.
Why they would do this just because some activists are
screaming loudly makes no sense to me whatsoever.”
Regarding the organization’s decision to leave in place its
policy against allowing adult homosexuals to be Scout
leaders, Stemberger said a change in that policy will only be
a matter of time.
Proponents of the change said they welcomed the move, but
that the policy remains insufficient.
“We view this as a first step to full inclusion,” Zach Wahls,
executive director of Scouts for Equality, said at a news
conference in Grapevine. “For me, this resolution clearly
doesn’t go far enough, but there is no doubt that for young
men all over the country, this is a validation of who they
are and an important testament to the ability of scouting to
reconsider its position.”
In the 2000 case Boy Scouts of America v. James
Dale, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in a 5-4 ruling
that the Boy Scouts of America was within its rights to set
its own membership standards, including whether gay youths
can be admitted into the organization.
Since then, gay rights activists have been lobbying the Boy
Scouts to change its policy and have pressured corporations
who give financial support to the organization to also push
for the change.
According to the organization’s website, there are more than
2.6 million youths and 1 million adult members in the Boy
Scouts of America. Catholic parishes and organizations across
the country operate more than 8,300 scouting units, including
the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts.
The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated Feb. 8, 1910, and
chartered by Congress in 1916. Its stated mission is to
provide an educational program for boys and young adults to
build character, to train in the responsibilities of
participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness.
About 70.3 percent of the more than 100,000 chartered
Scouting units are sponsored by faith-based organizations,
according to the Boy Scouts membership data. A breakdown
shows:
– The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the
largest faith-based organization of chartered scouting units
with 37,856 and 430,557 youth members. Church leaders have
publicly supported the new membership standards.
– Catholic-chartered units total 8,397 with 273,648 members.
– The United Methodist Church is the second-largest sponsor
of Scouting with 10,868 chartered unit and 363,876 members.
New membership standards were floated in January by Boy
Scouts. It gave sponsors of local Scout units the option of
welcoming gays as youth members and leaders. The Boy Scouts
then decided to survey its members before introducing a
formal proposal for a vote by members.
The survey showed that of the 200,000 members who responded,
61 percent supported the current policy while 34 percent
opposed it. Boy Scouts officials then decided to put the
issue before the National Council.
In a late April statement, Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone of
Charleston, S.C., liaison to the National Catholic Committee
on Scouting for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said
that leaders and organizations that serve young people “have
a responsibility to protect and foster a life of virtue
according to their particular mission.
“Organizations have a duty to select leaders that model
virtues and core values with integrity; Catholic-chartered
(Scouting) units will continue to provide leaders who promote
and live Catholic values. This is a matter of responsibility,
not a matter of unjust discrimination, which is always wrong
and contrary to the inviolable dignity of every human
person,” he said.
The Catholic Scouting committee, he said, would continue to
offer input to the Boy Scouts of America based on Catholic
teachings and values.
Gonzales is a staff writer for The Texas Catholic,
newspaper of the Diocese of Dallas. Contributing to this
story was Dennis Sadowski in Washington.
Bishop Paul Loverde on the Boy Scouts of
America
The Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde, Bishop of Arlington, made
the following statement today in response to the Boy Scouts
of America’s vote at its executive meeting in Grapevine,
Texas to change its membership requirements:
The clarity and courage of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)
over many years in the face of considerable cultural,
political and legal pressure to change its membership policy
with regard to those who openly profess to live a homosexual
lifestyle has been a testament to the virtues that scouting
has successfully instilled in the young men who have
benefited from its programs. I deeply regret that the
leadership of the Boy Scouts of America, after years of
principled and steadfast resolve, has now wavered in their
commitment to the values that the scouting movement has
traditionally embraced and taught.
The Diocese of Arlington has been very pleased to host Boy
Scout troops in the great majority of its parishes and to
encourage our boys and young men to be a part of the scouting
tradition. As Bishop, it has always been my firm hope that we
might continue sponsorship of Boy Scout troops in a manner
that is consistent with the Church’s teaching and
mission.
Sadly, yesterday’s decision forces us to prayerfully
reconsider whether a continued partnership with the BSA will
be possible.
Going forward and before the new BSA policy takes effect, I
will consult with those who moderate the Church’s
relationship with the scouting movement locally and at the
national level, including the National Catholic Committee on
Scouting (NCCS) and members of the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Through this consultative
process we will determine whether our parishes can continue
their relationship with the Boy Scouts. Overarching all of
this will be our firm commitment to preserving the integrity
of the Church’s teaching on the authentic meaning of human
sexuality.
As an organization founded on character and leadership, it is
highly disappointing to see the Boy Scouts of America succumb
to external pressures and political causes at the cost of its
moral integrity. Additionally, it seems clear that the result
of this policy change will likely not bring harmony, but
rather continuing controversy, policy fights, and
discord.
I ask that parishioners in the Diocese of Arlington continue
to pray for the leadership of the Boy Scouts of America, and
all Boy Scouts, and that each of us may grow in our
understanding of the gift of human sexuality and remain a
steadfast witness to the truths of our faith.
