Scout This

This was originally posted, in a shorter form, on my facebook page, with a link to a news story about Mike Huckabee and the Boy Scouts of America's anti-gay stance.

There are things in life I do not understand; some of them I can learn to understand. However I will never understand the irrational fear of people of the same gender having sex. Homophobia defies logic. What threat does a lesbian hold over me, just because she prefers to make out with another woman instead of a man? Answer: none.

Recently Boy Scouts of America reaffirmed a policy of disallowing openly gay scouts and scout leaders. It took them two years to foolishly renew their support for this policy of homophobia, and it diminishes an otherwise good organization that does important work. As was expected, the decision drew cheers and jeers. Unfortunately, one might also have expected the justification offered by some, an entrenchment in the belief that adult homosexuals who want to work with young people are somehow thus pedophiles (an insulting and logic defying notion, to say the least).

This idea was brought up, for example, on Mike Huckabee's radio show by a caller who said he had been molested as a child and thus felt keeping gays out of scouts was the right decision. I am deeply saddened for the caller, but would prefer that he direct his anger and grief at the real culprits instead of at gays. Sexual molestation is a horrible violation of power and trust, something that is too often hidden and corrosively damaging to the victim's life. 

But let's be clear about this: having a sexual predilection (paraphilia) for children (pedophilia), which when acted upon is termed sexual molestation, is in no way, not even remotely, related to or the same as having a sexual predilection toward a person of the same gender. Anita Bryant and Save Our Children gained nationwide attention for their hateful views on this matter back in the 1970s. I am saddened by the fact that so many still hold onto the belief, which only serves to divide, hurt, and hold us all back.

I assume that many supporters of the Boy Scout policy base their position on institutionally sanctioned disapproval of homosexuality. Religious groups for example seem to elevate the significance and saintliness of human capacity for procreation above other instincts (being fruitful and multiplying comes before being good to our neighbor, it would seem).  This doctrinal opposition to homosexuality, rooted I think in a drive toward survival in the many uneasy, superstitious times humans have lived in, is at least something I can understand. Sort of. That is, I get where tradition and significant cultural institutions have a deep hold on us. We don't particularly understand why we believe many things, we just do and those beliefs are reinforced through culture. It's poweful stuff and takes a strongly inquisitive nature or a barrier breaking incident to move toward another belief system (for better or worse). In this case what I don't get is why being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning of one's identity is deemed punishable. Or why it would make anyone a less effective Boy Scout. Ah, such are mysteries of life. If only they were a bit less hateful and tragic.

Anyway, I would have liked to encourage my son to become a Boy Scout. Positive leadership and character development is wonderful, important, and lacking in too many young people's lives. The camaraderie that can be gained from engaging in shared pursuits is also fantastic. I can only hope that the inclusion of gays issue is revisited in the four years before my son becomes eligible, and that the irrational fear is finally let go of. It's a long shot, but worth aiming for. For the sake of all boys.

P.S. In case you were wondering, as I was, what the Girl Scouts of America stance is on LGBTQ members, I would point you to the rather informative webpage put together by "100 Questions for the Girl Scouts," a group of folks clearly opposed to GSA's position and alleged partner/donor organizations. They also have a page titled "The Girl Scouts and Radical Feminism." Now that's a scouting experience I can really get behind!