Profile In Courage

Newly-elected Boy Scouts of America president and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that he would have pushed for openly gay leaders in the organization had he been in charge when BSA leadership made the controversial decision to end its ban on openly gay youth last year:

“I was prepared to go further than the decision that was made,” Gates told The Associated Press in an interview in advance of a speech before the group’s national leaders at its annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. “I would have supported having gay Scoutmasters, but at the same time, I fully accept the decision that was democratically arrived at by 1,500 volunteers from across the entire country…

“Given the strong feelings — the passion — involved on both sides of this matter, I believe strongly that to re-open the membership issue or try to take last year’s decision to the next step would irreparably fracture and perhaps even provoke a formal, permanent split in this movement — with the high likelihood neither side would subsequently survive on its own,” Gates said in prepared remarks.

Mighty big of you, Bob, to tell us your hypothetical scenario of inclusion. You might be aware of this already, but the BSA already split, and the Christian separatists formed their own organization, the Micke Huckabee-approved Trail Life USA. They are not coming back.

So… what have you got to lose by taking the high road and making scouting all-inclusive? You might want to check out the Scout Law sometime and do the brave thing for the right reasons.

By: Tengrain

Fully caffeinated with twice the sugar, unabashedly liberal. Award-winning Americans United blogger, blogs at Mock Paper Scissors, and sometimes at Crooks and Liars.

You can follow @Tengrain on Twitter, or you might see him enjoying coffee somewhere in Seattle at any given moment of the day.