"Boy Scouts delays decision on admitting gays; Executive board says issue will be voted on in May" by Nomaan Merchant and David Crary | Associated Press, February 07, 2013
IRVING, Texas — Whatever the organization eventually does, it’s decision may anger major constituencies and worsen schisms within Scouting....
Isn't that the whole point of the issue?
The iconic youth organization is now deeply entangled in the broader cultural and political conflicts over such issues as same-sex marriage and religious freedom. Tilting toward either side will probably alienate the other, and a midway balancing act will be difficult.
IRVING, Texas — Whatever the organization eventually does, it’s decision may anger major constituencies and worsen schisms within Scouting....
Isn't that the whole point of the issue?
The iconic youth organization is now deeply entangled in the broader cultural and political conflicts over such issues as same-sex marriage and religious freedom. Tilting toward either side will probably alienate the other, and a midway balancing act will be difficult.
Gay-rights supporters contend that no Scout units anywhere should exclude gays, and vowed to maintain pressure on the organization’s corporate donors to achieve that goal. Some conservatives, including religious leaders whose churches sponsor troops, warned of mass defections if the ban were even partially eased. They urged supporters to flood headquarters with phone calls.
‘‘In the past two weeks, Scouting has received an outpouring of feedback from the American public,’’ said the organization’s national spokesman, Deron Smith. ‘‘It reinforces how deeply people care about Scouting and how passionate they are about the organization.’’
************************************
Learning that a decision would be deferred, gay-rights leaders assailed the organization.
‘‘Every day that the Boy Scouts of America delay action is another day that discrimination prevails,’’ said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. ‘‘Young Americans, gay and straight, are hurt by the inaction associated with today’s news.’’
‘‘A Scout is supposed to be brave, and the Boy Scouts failed to be brave today,’’ said Jennifer Tyrrell, an Ohio mother ousted as a den leader of her son’s Cub Scout pack because she is lesbian....
I thought it was Boy Scouts. Isn't there a Girl Scouts?
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said his group would continue warning the Boy Scouts ‘‘about the grave consequences that would result if they were to compromise their moral standards in the face of threats from corporate elites and homosexual activists.’’
I thought it was Boy Scouts. Isn't there a Girl Scouts?
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said his group would continue warning the Boy Scouts ‘‘about the grave consequences that would result if they were to compromise their moral standards in the face of threats from corporate elites and homosexual activists.’’
About 70 percent of all Scout units are sponsored by religious denominations, including many by conservative faiths that have supported the ban, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Mormon church....
Oh, so the gay rights agenda-pushers are trying to destroy scouting; otherwise, they wouldn't be insinuating themselves into it.
Oh, so the gay rights agenda-pushers are trying to destroy scouting; otherwise, they wouldn't be insinuating themselves into it.
--more--"
And please don't take my position as an endorsement. My view of scouts is that they are basically a pre-school for military academies. Just getting the kid ready for the regimen.
And look who is the head of the organization:
"President Obama backs gays in Boy Scouts" Associated Press, February 04, 2013
WASHINGTON — The Boy Scouts emphatically reaffirmed the no-gays policy just seven months ago but said last week they were considering changing the stance....
President Obama, in a pre-Super Bowl interview with CBS’s Scott Pelley, said, ‘‘The Scouts are a great institution that are promoting young people and exposing them to opportunities and leadership that will serve people for the rest of their lives.’’
Well, they will take something with them the rest of their lives.
Obama, like presidents for the last century, serves as honorary president of the group....
--more--"
While they are arguing about the inclusion of gays this has been mostly forgotten:
"Boy Scouts host groups for forum on sex abuse" by David Crary | Associated Press, November 01, 2012
And please don't take my position as an endorsement. My view of scouts is that they are basically a pre-school for military academies. Just getting the kid ready for the regimen.
And look who is the head of the organization:
"President Obama backs gays in Boy Scouts" Associated Press, February 04, 2013
WASHINGTON — The Boy Scouts emphatically reaffirmed the no-gays policy just seven months ago but said last week they were considering changing the stance....
President Obama, in a pre-Super Bowl interview with CBS’s Scott Pelley, said, ‘‘The Scouts are a great institution that are promoting young people and exposing them to opportunities and leadership that will serve people for the rest of their lives.’’
Well, they will take something with them the rest of their lives.
Obama, like presidents for the last century, serves as honorary president of the group....
--more--"
While they are arguing about the inclusion of gays this has been mostly forgotten:
"Boy Scouts host groups for forum on sex abuse" by David Crary | Associated Press, November 01, 2012
NEW YORK — Even as its past policies on sex-abuse prevention fuel debate, the Boy Scouts of America is hosting an unprecedented closed-door symposium Thursday with other national youth organizations, hoping to share strategies to combat abuse.
The 10 participating groups, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the YMCA, and Big Brothers Big Sisters, will hear presentations from some of the nation’s top experts on child sex-abuse prevention. They also will discuss the sensitive topic of how uncorroborated information about potentially threatening adult volunteers might be shared among youth organizations.
Planning for the daylong session in Atlanta began late last year, part of longstanding efforts by the Boy Scouts to demonstrate a commitment to preventing abuse problems that have bedeviled it and other youth groups for decades....
Two weeks ago, the Scouts released files from 1959-85 on 1,200 alleged pedophiles after Associated Press, The Oregonian, The New York Times, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and other news media won a court case against the organization....
One of the symposium’s sessions will look at the type of confidential files kept by the Boy Scouts since the 1920s....
--more--"
"Mass. residents on Boy Scout ‘perversion files’" October 18, 2012
This story was reported by Travis Andersen and Martin Finucane of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Colin A. Young, Melanie Dostis, and Liam O’Kennedy. It was written by Andersen.
Forty-five people from Massachusetts are listed in the secret “perversion files” maintained by the Boy Scouts of America that were released Thursday by an Oregon legal team under an order from the Oregon Supreme Court.
The hometowns of Massachusetts residents listed in the Scouts’ ineligible volunteer files were spread across the state, from South Boston to Pittsfield. The files contained 44 names and one person listed as unknown.....
The Globe is not naming anyone it could not confirm has been criminally charged. Some names were listed on the state offender database, but it could not be confirmed that they were the same people.
One of the law firms included in the legal team that won the release of the files as part of a child sexual abuse lawsuit said on its website that some of the abuse allegations in the files were later substantiated by court proceedings, but “in a great many cases no such substantiation ever occurred.”
The files were introduced in a 2010 Oregon civil suit that the Scouts lost, and the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the files should be made public....
Related: A troop before its time
Ending Boy Scouts’ ban on gays advances fairness — and Scouting itself
You know, I'd rather not going camping with you this week, thanks.
I'm closing mine.
Other files that have been closed:
"Ruling in clergy abuse case may shield Vatican; US judge decides Holy See is not priests’ employer" by Nigel Duara | Associated Press, August 21, 2012
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Vatican won a major victory Monday in an Oregon federal courtroom, where a judge ruled that the Holy See is not the employer of molester priests.
The decision by US District Court Judge Michael Mosman ends a six-year dispute in the decade-old case and could shield the Vatican from possible monetary damages....
The case is the last major US sex abuse lawsuit against the Holy See. Cases in Kentucky and Wisconsin have been dropped in recent years....
Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia School of Law professor, said of the Oregon case, ‘‘This was likely filed more to make a political statement.’’
--more--"
"Ruling in clergy abuse case may shield Vatican; US judge decides Holy See is not priests’ employer" by Nigel Duara | Associated Press, August 21, 2012
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Vatican won a major victory Monday in an Oregon federal courtroom, where a judge ruled that the Holy See is not the employer of molester priests.
The decision by US District Court Judge Michael Mosman ends a six-year dispute in the decade-old case and could shield the Vatican from possible monetary damages....
The case is the last major US sex abuse lawsuit against the Holy See. Cases in Kentucky and Wisconsin have been dropped in recent years....
Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia School of Law professor, said of the Oregon case, ‘‘This was likely filed more to make a political statement.’’
--more--"
