To the Editor:

On Jan. 1, the Boy Scouts of America’s new membership standard approved in May by the volunteer national executive board will go into effect. You may be surprised to learn that the Boy Scouts of America has taken no action that endorses the homosexual life style. The fact is the new Boy Scout membership policy increases emphasis on the immorality of sexual activity by any Boy Scout aged youth, whether heterosexual or homosexual. The Boy Scouts of America has emphasized that all sexual activity by Scout age youth is immoral. After the May vote, the Boy Scout movement can now continue to provide positive role models and the Scouting program to youth who have questioned their sexual preference but have made no physical commitment to that lifestyle. I have not found a Scoutmaster who would have excluded such a Scout under the present membership standard. So ultimately little has changed. The Boy Scouts of America has never asked youth what their sexual preference is. There is no place in Boy Scouts for sex education now or after Jan. 1. Scouting believes this to be the duty of parents and their religious advisor. There has been no change in the present adult membership standards.

 

The Boy Scouts of America and its chartered organizations still maintain the right to dismiss any youth or adult whose sexual behavior or lifestyle becomes a distraction to the organization’s ability to deliver the Boy Scout program or anyone who uses the Scout uniform to promote a political belief. More details on the new membership standard can be found

at www.scouting.org.

H. Ray Franks

Scout Executive/CEO

East Carolina Council, BSA