Booted gay Westerville Boy Scout reacts to policy change

A good scout always knows which way the winds of change are blowing.‪

The Executive Council of the Boy Scouts of America has voted to allow local scout organizations to permit gay and bisexual leaders. The unanimous vote approves a measure that would give local troops the authority to select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation. The move, which still requires the approval of the BSA’s executive board, would lift the group’s national ban on gay leaders. Local groups would be allowed to select gay or bisexual leaders if they wanted, while religious-backed groups could exclude those same people from consideration for leadership roles.

“For decades, the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay adults has stood as a towering example of explicit, institutional homophobia in one of America’s most important and recognizable civic organizations. While this policy change is not perfect — BSA’s religious chartering partners will be allowed to continue to discriminate against gay adults—it is difficult to overstate the importance of today’s announcement.”
– Zach Wahls, Scouts for Equality Executive Director

In recent years, the national organization began allowing openly gay boys to become scouts, but kept a ban in place in terms of becoming scout leaders. The issue gained renewed attention earlier this year when Brian Peffly, an openly gay adult scout volunteer (an Eagle Scout) from Westerville, was told that he could no longer serve the organization because of his sexual orientation.

Brian tells me that he’s not sure if this move will help the Scouts to recover from the lower enrollment figures that they have had in recent years. He attributes some of that to alienation felt by the LGBT community and by straight allies. He does view the action by BSA’s executive board to be “a great step forward.” He says that it will be great for future scouts to have both straight and gay leaders to view as role models. Brian says that his old troop is hoping that he will return and volunteer again, but that he has other plans. He’ll be leaving the area soon for a move to Phoenix. He says that he’s not sure if he’ll try to get involved in scouting again out West…but maybe. “With the Grand Canyon and so many other places out there, there are a lot of places for some great camping.”

(jj)

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