The Boy Scouts of America is a youth organization with values that build character and the leaders of tomorrow, but only if you fit their standards.
Ryan Andresen, a Boy Scout and 12 years old, is being denied the rank of Eagle Scout by the Boy Scouts of America due to his sexual orientation. According to CBS Seattle, the organization decided to uphold the denial of gay members from joining the organization in July, after a two year review on the policy. This decision has caused the organization to be under fire for its strict policies on membership. It has also brought attention back to the Boy Scouts of America v. Dale case in 2000, when James Dale was revoked position of Assistant Scoutmaster by BSA officials when he publicly announced he was gay, as stated by the Supreme Court case file.
Andresen joined the Boy Scouts when he was six years old because he liked the outdoors and hiking, his mother Karen Andresen told ABC News. When Andresen revealed that he was gay, he was harassed, threatened and bullied by other Boy Scouts. He stated, “It was really embarrassing and humiliating…I was terrified,” according to the International Business Times. In light of this response after revealing his sexual orientation, Andresen created a “tolerance wall” at a local middle school he worked at which comprised of a collage of 288 square tiles that had quotes and pictures that promoted kindness and anti-bullying.
Eagle Scout is the highest rank that can be earned in Boy Scouts, and requires obtaining five ranks, 21 merit badges, being in a leadership position for at least six months and completing a community service project, according to ABC News. Even though Andresen completed all the requirements needed to obtain Eagle Scout status, he was still denied the rank. Since the deadline to obtain Eagle status is your 18th birthday, time is ticking for Andresen to get the rank.
Donny Murray, a freshman at UT and former Boy Scout, stated, “It is not fair to do all that work and not get the award for that reason…it is just not fair.”
Andresen’s mother has started a petition against the BSA on change.org to grant her son the honor, and as of Oct. 12 it has over 393,000 signatures.
This is only one of the many recent protests that have been made against the Boy Scouts of America. According to the New York Daily News, in July the BSA decided to keep the ban on homosexuals from the organization after a two year review of the policy. Many Boy Scouts and Eagle Scouts had been so appalled by the BSA’s decision to deny gay members into the organization that they began returning their hard earned medals. Even today, there are many blogging websites like Tumblr that have specific pages for Boy Scouts returning their badges. Since there is no standard way of sending back the medals, there is no definite number of how many Boy Scouts are doing so.
In light of the new anti-gay policy, many news sources have brought attention back to the Supreme Court case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale in 2000. According to the case file, James Dale was an Eagle Scout and an assistant Scoutmaster for the BSA, but was soon discovered to be gay and a gay rights activist. From this evidence, Boy Scout officials evoked his status in the organization. Dale decided to sue, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. The case was argued on April 26, 2008, and the court announced their decision. The Supreme Court sided with the Boy Scouts of America, stating that Boy Scouts is a private organization and can include and exclude whoever they wish, and that the BSA’s first constitutional amendment right of freedom, association and assembly was being violated. The Supreme Court stated that the BSA has the right to express their own beliefs, and that if others do not agree with those beliefs, then they are not forced to join if it conflicts with their own personal standards.
In the age we live in, gay rights have been increasing, especially with more states allowing gay marriage. However, marriage is a public matter, and the Boy Scouts is a private organization which, according to the Supreme Court, is allowed to deny whoever they want. Just because it is a private organization doesn’t mean its funding is only from other private companies. Intel, a public company that makes processors and chips for most Microsoft computers, gave $700,000 to the BSA in 2010 according to the Examiner, which made it one of the organization’s biggest donors. From the same report, Intel now is pulling their funding from the Boy Scouts, stating that they do not support organizations that discriminate.
While the BSA has received money from public companies like Intel, the organizations that are most affiliated with the BSA are churches and other religious groups. According to the Boy Scouts’ website, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as Mormons), are the highest chartered organization to the BSA. Other religious groups that have the highest charter with the BSA are the United Methodist Church, Catholic Church, Presbyterian Church and the Lutheran Church. With many of these churches, there are a lot of beliefs that are strictly enforced, with most of them seeing homosexuality as a sin. The Boy Scouts of America having affiliates that discriminate against homosexuals says a lot about what their beliefs are. I am not stating the Boy Scouts have influence from these companies, but it should be noted who they associate themselves with.
As a former member of Girl Scouts, I think it is sickening that these organizations promote leadership in communities and creating good values throughout life, yet do not promote tolerance and equality. While Girl Scouts of Colorado did allow a transgender into the organization, according to the Daily Telegraph, Girl Scouts does not have an official stance on homosexuality, and prefers to have a “don’t ask, don’t tell policy.” There are other organizations like Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs and 4-H, an agriculture youth organization, who are completely non discriminatory against sexual orientation.
The Boy Scouts of America should listen to its members and change their rules. Sexual orientation should not have a factor when there is a foundation for wanting to create leaders in a community. Leaders in communities accept those around them and try to make that community stronger, not discriminate against those that do not fit their own standards.
Sarah Garrity can be reached at sarah.garrity@spartans.ut.edu
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