The Boy Scouts of America has recently told Jennifer Tyrrell, a lesbian mom in Ohio, that because of her sexual orientation, she can no longer serve as the den leader of her son’s local Cub Scout chapter. Although parents of the other boys in the den supported her, the local Boy Scout council revoked her membership.
The other local parents organized a peaceful protest in support of Tyrrell last night. Tyrrell herself has started a petition at Change.org asking the BSA to “Reconsider the policy of exclusivity against gay youths and leaders.”
She explains further that she led her cubs in several volunteer service projects around their community, guided them in earning multiple Scout badges, and taught them the 12 Core Values of Scouting: citizenship, compassion, cooperation, courage, faith, health and fitness, honesty, perseverance, positive attitude, resourcefulness, respect, and responsibility.
All of that mattered little, however. Tyrrell says:
The revocation of my membership came shortly after I was elected treasurer of my pack and uncovered some inconsistencies in the pack’s finances. Within a week of reporting these findings to the council, I received notice that my membership had been revoked, based on my sexual orientation, citing that because I’m gay, I did “not meet the high standards of membership that the BSA seeks.”
There was an outcry of support for me by the parents of my Tiger Scouts, many of whom waited for hours to voice their concerns to members of the council and the pack’s charter organization, but were turned away without the opportunity to do so.
GLAAD, which is helping spread the word about Tyrrell’s situation, notes in a press release that “in 2004 the BSA adopted a new Youth Leadership policy which strips Boy Scout leaders of their positions in the organization and often denies them access to the organization all together. Just last year, the BSA removed an out lesbian from her volunteer post with a local Potomac Falls, VA chapter because of her sexual orientation.”
The BSA also rejected a Vermont lesbian mom who wanted to help with her son’s den in 2009.
As I told GLAAD, which asked me for a comment, lesbian and gay parents have proven themselves time and time again to be dedicated, caring, and trustworthy Scout leaders and volunteers, as evidenced by Jennifer and many others who have served in welcoming local Scout groups. It is shameful that the Boy Scouts organization has chosen to stigmatize Jennifer’s son by not letting his parents participate in the same way as those of his peers.
Why on earth would lesbian or gay parents allow their kids to participate in an affirmatively homophobic organization? (Not to speak of anti-atheist and militaristic…)
Seriously, if we as gay parents don’t question the very basis of organizations such as this, and refuse to participate in them, then this type of thing is only going to continue. And our children learn that we don’t really believe in our own values of respect and equality, because we support the very institutions that discriminate against us and others.
I agree with you mostly Diane, but there also needs to be a balance. Why would we punish the kids by not letting them participate in something they enjoy? I think it is more than just pulling our children out of activities in these organizations. Although I am not a gay parent, so in-depth I don’t understand the core of the problem from the perspective of the oppressed, I DO however believe in absolute equality. I think the best situation here would be to continue to put pressure on the organizations instead of simply pulling kids out of programs that at the core teach important lessons about helping and community.
The basis of these organizations are decreed by their leaders, and it is putting pressure on those leaders which will change the basis of the organizations. I just don’t think that you can punish the bottom for the mistakes of the top.
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We (collective we) say “no” to all sorts of options for our kids without thinking of it as “punishment,” simply because those options conflict with our values. The only difference here is that we don’t yet have a critical mass of Americans who agree with our values, and so the BSA is considered an acceptable organization. We wouldn’t think of it as “punishing” our children if we told them they couldn’t belong to a racist organization — we’d think of it as teaching them an important lesson about what matters in this world.
I am very tired of the BSA getting a free pass on this. It’s a hateful organization for a number of different reasons, and parents need to express their disagreement with its values and mission by not enrolling their kids in the first place.
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