BSA ‘compromise’ is offensive

I was a member of the Boy Scouts of America from 1940 to 1944. The question of sexual orientation was a nonissue. Not ever did it occur to me that the Scout promise to be “morally straight” had any connotation of sexual orientation. Now, the BSA appears to be obsessed, and their recent “compromise” decision regarding the matter is odious.

To boys who have sensed that their sexual orientation is different from that of most of their peers, the BSA decision says the following: “We are not eager to have you as members of the BSA, but we are going to tolerate you because we think that you need to learn the principles that we teach. When you reach adulthood, however, your membership will automatically cease, not because we have no adult members, but because of who you are going to become. Even though you remain true to the Scout Oath and obedient to the Scout Law throughout your years in scouting, you are going to grow up to be a person who is unsuitable to be in the company of boys and heterosexual men. Raise your right hand and repeat after me ...”

The BSA was founded 103 years ago. The organization should “be prepared” to enter the 21st century.

Don Westlake

Wheaton