Following Thursday’s vote by the Boy Scouts America to allow openly gay youths to participate, some longtime scouts in Central Pennsylvania say they want to leave the organization.
Nathan Tasker, 16, is part of Troop 107, which met Thursday in McSherrystown, Adams County. He said he had planned to become an Eagle Scout soon.
“I’m very close. I just have one thing left to do, but it’s still a decision that has to be made,” said Tasker of his decision to quit scouting. He called Thursday’s vote “disappointing” and said it “introduces sexuality into the picture. That never should have been a topic.”
Allison Mackey has four sons in scouting, including one who is an Eagle Scout. She said her kids also want to leave the organization.
“They’re clearly turning their backs on Godly and Christian principles,” Mackey said of the organization’s delegates who voted in favor of the policy change. “They should be focusing on canoeing merit badges and tenting. It shouldn’t be part of the Boy Scouts.”
Wayne Perry, president of the Boy Scouts of America, wrote an op-ed in USA Today before the vote was cast saying the policy change is the “right decision.”
“The change to the Boy Scouts of America’s membership policy is not the result of pressure from outside; it is the result of extensive dialogue within the Scouting family. Parents, adults in the Scouting community and teens alike tend to agree that youth should not be denied the benefits of Scouting. The resolution is not about adults; it is about what is best for young people,” wrote Perry. “Some have voiced concerns that this proposal could put children at risk of being abused. The BSA makes no connection between sexual abuse and homosexuality. The nation’s leading experts agree. The BSA has stringent polices that protect the safety and privacy of youth and has always worked to ensure that it is a supportive and safe environment.”
Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania, called the vote a “partial victory.”
“This is a compromise, really. And, I think what both sides are trying to do is please everybody. And, I think really what they’re going to do in the long run is please nobody,” said Martin. “There are people out there that have been involved in scouting, that are gay, for years and have been terrific leaders, have been terrific role models.”
The policy change does not allow for openly gay scout leaders. As for youths, BSA officials say their policy still stands that any sexual conduct, regardless of one’s sexual orientation, is “contrary to the virtues of scouting.”
In a statement, Ron Gardner, Scout Executive and CEO of the New Birth of Freedom Council said in a statement, “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. As the National Executive Committee just completed a lengthy review process, there are no plans for further review on this matter.”
The policy change is effective Jan. 1, 2014.