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"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Gary L. Drescher" wrote in message
news:VQJ0b.206533$o%2.95221@sccrnsc02...
| "C J Campbell" wrote in message
| ...
| The BSA does not throw out kids who are homosexuals. The policy
applies
to
| adult leaders only.
|
| That's just false, CJ. The BSA does not have a policy of waiting until
a
| boy scout reaches majority age before expelling him for being openly
gay.
| Can you cite any statement of Scout policy (or any other evidence) to
| support your claim?
|

There is no written
policy from the National Council telling people to not accept gay youth in
their units.

CJ, the very BSA statement you quoted says the following, specifically in
reference to gays in the Scouts:

Scouting's message is compromised when
members or leaders present themselves as role models whose actions are
inconsistent with the standards set in the Scout Oath and Law.

Note the phrase "members OR leaders". No restriction to adults. And the
BSA resolution adopted on Feb 6, 2002 by the National Executive Board of the
Boy Scouts says explicitly that merely being openly gay (an "avowed
homosexual", as they put it) was inherently inconsistent with the standards
of the Scout Oath and Law, as BSA interprets it.

Nothing elsewhere in what you quoted says otherwise (if you disagree, please
cite the specific relevant passage). Yes, it says they don't investigate
sexual orientation (don't-ask-don't-tell). Yes, it says they'll give a
child a chance to reconsider if he comes out as being gay (they'd encourage
the boy to "seek counsel" to verify that he'd made a "mature decision"),
before holding him responsible. But nowhere does it back off from the
position that an openly gay child (unless he recants) is to be expelled.

The Boy Scouts do not discriminate against youth and anybody who does is
doing so against national policy.

Units that expel gay youths (especially 14 year olds, who can hardly be
expected to know whether they are gay or not), do so in error.

That's not what the national policy says, and it's not what the adult Scout
leaders who've spoken up on this newsgroup feel bound by. If the national
policy is being as widely misinterpreted as you seem to think, why do you
suppose the BSA hasn't made the clear statement that you just did? All they
have to say is "No youth should be expelled from the Scouts just for being
openly gay." Why don't you propose such a statement to them, and see what
they say? Ask them if a Scout troop would be lose its charter for refusing
to expel openly gay children who don't recant, and see what they say.

--Gary

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 16:42:34 GMT, "Gary L. Drescher"
wrote:

Yes, it says they'll give a
child a chance to reconsider if he comes out as being gay (they'd encourage
the boy to "seek counsel" to verify that he'd made a "mature decision"),

Just as a point of order, I'd like to point out that "seek counsel" is
far and away not the same as "seek counseling" in the clinical sense.

Rob