Breaking: The BSA Executive committee votes to keep the gay ban in place, but delay action on LGBT youth members until they hit their 18th birthday, citing internal polling showing that 50.5% of BSA councils recommend no change to existing policies.

The proposal to be voted on in May therefore will not rescind the gay ban, but will merely postpone discriminatory action against LGBT youth members until they are older.

Boy Scouts of America Membership Standards Resolution

Membership Standards Study Initiative Executive Summary

We now have the award-winning documentary film Scout’s Honor available on DVD for anyone willing to host a showing.

This film from 2001 tells the story of Steve Cozza, Dave Rice, Tim Curran, and James Dale and is a great way to start off a discussion of the BSA’s membership policies. It runs under an hour, and won the Audience Award at Sundance for Best Documentary.

If you can host a showing with your unit, church, charter organization or elsewhere in your council before the BSA’s vote, the Inclusive Scouting Network can send you a copy of the film on DVD (courtesy of director/producer Tom Shepard and New Day Films).

Sign up via our volunteer form and select Hosting a Showing of the Documentary Film “Scout’s Honor” as one of your areas of interest:

Volunteer to Host a Free Showing Here

View the trailer for the film

View a streaming version of the entire film (available for a limited time)

A Scouter recently included this great story with a follow-up order for 50 more Inclusive Scouting Award square knot patches for his unit (published with permission; identifying information removed):

Thank you for sending me the first Inclusive Scouting Award badges. My co-ed Crew, about half of whom are already Eagles, took it very seriously and put it to a vote at a Green Bar meeting. They unanimously voted to wear the square knot on their uniforms. I was impressed, but warned them to think about it because there could be serious ramifications with Council if anyone took issue with their decision. They told me they were telling me as a courtesy, but it was a fait accompli – they had already decided on their own.

When I told them how impressed I was with their bravery, especially since they personally “didn’t have a horse in this race,” they all laughed at me. It turns out I was wrong about that. They politely explained that two of our scouts are gay. I had no idea, but I guess that’s how it should be. Someone’s sexual orientation doesn’t matter a whit in our program. The whole Crew was standing up as a matter of brotherhood for their fellow Scouts, and they weren’t going to stand for their friends being bullied or picked on by National.

Our charter organization had been considering ending their 40+ year sponsorship of the scouting program at the church over this issue. They recently called me into a board meeting to explain our Crew policy, so I showed them the square knot on my uniform, explained its meaning and told them this story. They were very happy to hear it and I think it restored their faith that the Scouting program works.

The United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association have officially signed on as supporters of the movement to end BSA’s gay ban.

“The United Church of Christ (UCC) has a long history of supporting social justice and affirming the worth of all God’s children, regardless of who they love. . . . ‘The BSA should honor its values of respecting the diversity of theological teachings that exist among the broad spectrum of faith groups that participate, including the UCC’s values of extravagant welcome and inclusion.’”

“As an organization of faith and spirituality, the UUA exemplifies what it means to honor the inherent worth and to nurture spiritual growth of all people. Similarly, the BSA has a long history of standing by these same guiding principles; even the father of the Scouting movement, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, said ‘the sport in Scouting is to find the good in every boy and develop it.’ By accepting all youth who are willing to live by Scouting’s principles into the BSA, we are able to follow his vision.”

Their complete statements of support are available on the Scouts for Equality web site, and kudos to our friends at SFE for their great work here.

Wayne Brock, the National Chief Scout Executive, told an audience at a Florida leadership conference that the BSA’s gay ban will eventually have to go.

From Scouts at crossroads in Orlando over gay ban (Orlando Sentinel):

Brock, speaking before a leadership summit by the group’s Central Florida Council, candidly admitted that, even if the policy doesn’t change, the issue will probably not go away. “We know the younger generation does not view this the same way the older generation does,” Brock said. “They don’t understand what the big deal is.”

Addressing the question of what happens if the policy stays the same, Brock said: “If you look at the demographics, in a few years we’ll revisit this again.”

New “I Support Inclusive Scouting” patches are now available in the Inclusive Scouting Store. The original design, shown at left, is based on a graphic developed by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for their #boyscouts campaign. Many thanks to them for sharing the design, and for all their great work for inclusive scouting.

Also available is a “Star Trek” variant that was widely shared by George Takei (shown right) and a limited edition “rainbow” set of six patches, each with a different color neckerchief (shown below). All proceeds from these patches will be used for our outreach efforts in advance of the BSA’s annual meeting in May, where the National Council will be voting on a potential change to BSA’s anti-gay membership policies. As with the Inclusive Scouting Award patch, we will send a free version of the standard patch to anyone who tells us in the comments section of the order form that they will be putting it onto their uniform.

Order Your Patches Now
Volunteer  to help reach out to other Scouts and Scouters before the May vote.
	to help our volunteers reach voting delegates in every BSA council.

Just posted on the band’s web site: A message about the upcoming Boy Scouts show

When we booked this show for the Boy Scouts of America we were not aware of any policy barring openly gay people from participation within the organization. Train strongly opposes any kind of policy that questions the equality of any American citizen. We have always seen the BSA as a great and noble organization. We look forward to participating in the Jamboree this summer, as long as they make the right decision before then.

Train had been booked to play at the Boy Scout National Jamboree this summer, but it now looks as though that show won’t happen unless the BSA votes to change its policy in May.

The first comment on their announcement is from the mother of a 14 year old gay boy who was forced to leave the scouts this past year, thanking the band for taking a stand.