"Dear Richard: I wrote to you last week in response to your July 3rd essay in the "Speaking Out" section of the Democrat and Chronicle. I hope you read my letter and gave serious consideration to repenting of your sins and asking Jesus Christ, from your heart, to be your Lord and Savior. If you made that decision, welcome to the family of God! If you haven't, don't delay making that commitment. It will be the best decision you will ever make in your current earthly existence. If you wish further dialogue with me about this decision or any of the contents of my letter you can reach me at .... Take care, Larry."
On July 12, 2000, I received that cryptic note in response to an Op-Ed piece I had written on the Supreme Court decision allowing the Boy Scouts of America to exclude gay men and boys from their ranks. I had taken issue with the court, stating that the real sin here was homophobia, not homosexuality.
I didn't get back to Larry, however sincere he was. Probably I should have, but I didn't see the possibility of dialogue with someone who has already labeled me a sinner, told me of "all the harm (I) have done in (my) family, (my) congregation and (my) community," and reminded me that I was not yet part of God's family!
I'm afraid it would just have made him angry if I were to ask him why, if homosexuality is such a abominable sin, Jesus makes no mention of it in the Gospels, or if I had sent him a publication of our Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Concerns Task Force, The Bible and Homosexuality which rebuts the distortions of scripture used to promote homophobia.
This whole issue of the Boy Scouts of America and its policy toward homosexuals has been deeply disturbing to me because scouting has played so crucial a role in my life. One of the few activities open to me in the little country hamlet of Baptist Hill was scouts. Troop 58 was small - barely a dozen of us - but we were a crack troop. We won many awards in the Arrowhead District -Ontario County. I even won a pancake flipping contest at one camporee - to the astonishment of my mother! For several summers I was a counselor at Camp Babcock Hovey on Seneca Lake, the last two as Scoutcraft Director.
At the 1951 National Boy Scout Jamboree in Valley Forge, I had a transformative experience that led me to ministry. A year later I received the God and Country Award given by my Universalist church and BSA. I am an Eagle Scout and member of the Order of the Arrow; both my sons are Eagle scouts, and one has served as a scoutmaster. I have worked with many boys over the years on the Unitarian Universalist Association's Religion in Life program. Our current Religion in Life program includes both boys and girls, few in scouting, but it has the same purpose: to provide Unitarian Universalist youth an in-depth experience of their faith.
Scouting, then, has been no mere extra-curricular activity, but has helped to shape who I am. So, when boy scouting's officialdom acts in ways contrary to values on which I was reared, it becomes a serious issue. It becomes an issue that illustrates the inherent difficulty of moral decision-making.
Scouting for boys was founded in England by Robert Baden-Powell, who may himself have been gay. The Boy Scouts of America were officially chartered by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1910, the U.S. model differing from the English mainly in its close association with religion. It was modeled after the YMCA, which does not discriminate against gays, nor for that matter do the YWCA, the Girl Scouts or the Campfire Girls.
You have probably heard the words that stir so much controversy, The Scout Oath: "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight." The Scout Law is also controversial: "A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent."
The history of the BSA and the UUA begins in earnest in 1981 with an understanding about the meaning of the word "God," which some Unitarian Universalist scouts in our creedless tradition found troublesome. Buddhist scouts might likewise have difficulty, since Buddhism is essentially a non-theistic faith. The BSA philosophy was described then as a form of "Don't ask; don't tell." As long as the God wasn't fussed over, there would be no problem. "God" had been finessed for the time being.
Then in 1985 Paul Trout, a 15-year-old West Virginia scout, was denied advancement to Life rank because he announced he didn't believe in a "Supreme Being," which BSA had adopted as its official definition of God. That turned out to be a misguided attempt at inclusiveness. Trout eventually was awarded his higher rank. But the issue was joined, and our UUA President petitioned the Boy Scouts to be more theologically inclusive.
By 1991 the issues of God, homosexuality and the Boy Scouts were at fever pitch. Official scout policy left no room for atheists, agnostics or homosexuals. On May 24 of that year I wrote a letter to Benjamin Love, then CEO of the BSA. Identifying myself as an Eagle Scout, I said in part, "In my tradition, there is broad latitude of theological expression. When one says a 'scout is reverent,' that meaning is left to the interpretation of the individual.
"I have always cherished scouting as a youth organization which encouraged free expression of religious faith or none, and taught respect for divergence of views. Evidently, there is now a theological test for membership - not present when I was a scout. Who will administer this theological test? I believe scouting should be open to all persons of good will, regardless of religious viewpoint. Scouting is primarily a youth organization. Please leave it to churches and temples to do religious education.
"As to the homosexual issue, I believe, with Martin Luther King, Jr., that people ought to be judged solely by the content of their character. I would reject a sexual abuser for leadership whether they were straight or gay. Hitler was a heterosexual; Walt Whitman was a homosexual. Which would you want as a scout leader? I urge you to cease this intentional discrimination, which is increasingly outlawed in statutes across the country."
I never had the courtesy of a reply from Mr. Love, nor have I had replies to any subsequent letters I have written on such matters.
The issue became institutionalized when the Unitarian Universalist Association's Religion in Life program was decertified because it took exception to BSA's position on these issues. The UUA argued that this was a curtailment of religious liberty, which we deemed to be a core value in scouting. The issue then entered the courts. James Dale, an exemplary scout leader and himself an Eagle scout, was pictured as a leader of a campus gay rights group in New Jersey. The local scout council terminated his leadership and he went to court to be reinstated. New Jersey's highest court unanimously found on his behalf, stating that the Boy Scouts were a public accommodation and therefore subject to the state Law Against Discrimination; they were not a private group that could exclude anyone it chose.
The redoubtable conservative George Will had a ready comment, saying that the "Boy Scouts are victims of a liberal agenda." BSA says their right of "expressive association" trumps the New Jersey statute. "But now New Jersey's judicial authoritarianism has advanced, by the means preferred by contemporary liberalism, the liberal agenda of breaking more and more institutions to the saddle of the state."[1] For Mr. Will there is a left-wing conspiracy behind every perceived evil.
The U. S. Supreme Court overruled the New Jersey decision, arguing that the Boy Scouts was essentially a private group and it was therefore legal for it to discriminate. BSA had argued that "We believe that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the requirement that a Scout be morally straight, and in the Scout Law that a Scout be clean in word and deed, and that homosexuals do not provide a desirable role model for Scouts." However, at no time in my many years as a scout and the father of scouts had I ever heard that "morally straight" had anything to do with homosexuality. That is a moral (really an immoral) invention of a few men who in their limited biblical understanding fail to understand the biblical injunction of the Hebrew prophets who proclaimed justice for all, and Jesus who urged his followers to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I had always thought "morally straight" meant adherence to the Golden Rule as taught in many faiths and traditions - about love of neighbor - respect for persons - kindness and helpfulness. Not according to the current Boy Scout leadership.
The Boy Scouts of America may have won a legal battle when the Supreme Court upheld their right to exclude gay men and boys, but they have suffered a moral defeat. When it agreed that the BSA had a right to dismiss James Dale because of his avowed homosexuality, it struck a blow for homophobia. This "right to discriminate" is a hollow victory for an organization purporting to guide young boys in moral, social and spiritual development.
The Court argued that this discrimination is defensible for a private group exercising its First Amendment rights. It is not clear to me the BSA is a private group, supported as it is by many public schools, fire and police departments, to say nothing of the United Way and many religious groups. As a former scout I am embarrassed that such free speech is used to defame a group of people who are guilty of nothing but the way they choose to express love. The implicit equation of homosexuality and pedophilia has no basis in fact - even the Boy Scouts grudgingly admit that. Any leader who abuses boys should be held accountable - be they heterosexual or homosexual. It is by actions people should be judged. By all accounts James Dale was an exemplary leader of outstanding character whose only fault, according to scout headquarters, was that he was openly gay.
My suspicion is that many - if not most - local scout leaders are terribly embarrassed by the Texas-based Boy Scout organization. It is tragic that outstanding leaders are denied opportunity to serve. It is even more tragic that many gay boys may be denied participation in an organization that otherwise teaches self-reliance, respect for others, environmental responsibility and service to community. To discriminate against them sets a terrible example for our society!
One purpose of The Boy Scouts of America I understood was to educate for good citizenship. But boy scouts will live in a world that is both gay and straight. What kind of preparation is it when the official moral stand of an organization is that gay people are not worthy to be leaders or even members of the community? And can we forget that one of the killers of Matthew Shepherd, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, was an Eagle Scout?
I think of two cartoons which suggest the depth of my indignation. Their humor evokes pathos as well as anger. In one, two boys are talking; the one in a scout uniform pointing to a merit badge on his impressive-looking sash, says to the other, "And this one's for homophobia." In the other a tiny Boy Scout is helping a large, rotund lady with a cane across the street - doing his daily good deed. He says to her, "You're not a gay or an atheist, are you?"
Subsequent to the unfortunate decision of the U. S. Supreme court, our denominational leadership called for a halt to public funding for BSA and revocation of its Congressional charter. Many groups, cities from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Chicago and Portland, Maine, United Ways across the nation, and several religious groups, have removed financial support and have placed restrictions on scout use of public facilities. Our church board has adopted a building use policy that requires non-discrimination and I have already had dialogue with a scout troop about it.
In response to the many protests, President Bush and Congress, in the recently enacted education bill, agreed to withhold federal funding from any school which refuses to allow boy scout troops to use public school buildings. Homophobia is still alive and well and active in the our nation's capitol. It is a discriminatory policy that goes against the American grain, that reverses the tide of human rights progress, that divides rather than unifies our nation The UUA has tried to work from within to help boy scouting live up to its promise as one of the nation's premier youth organizations for boys. Interviewed by the Unitarian Universalist World in its September/October 1998 issue, I said, "I guess my vote would be to work from within and keep needling. If we leave, then our kids would miss the opportunity to study nature, conservation and ecology. And they'd miss the opportunity to get to know kids of other religious persuasions. For UU's scouting is a way to be involved in the mainstream."[2]
Why have the boy scouts stumbled so badly on this moral issue? BSA is admittedly between a rock and a hard place. Their two main religious supporters - the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) will not accept gay scout leaders or scouts. Some 720,000 scouts, 15-20% of the total, belong to these two groups. If the Dallas-based BSA yields to the protests of many human rights groups, they may well lose substantial funding. I have great respect for both these religious traditions, but I emphatically disagree with their sex ethic. It pains me deeply, but the Boy Scouts simply need to do the right thing.
In the spring of 1978 I had the privilege of spending a morning with Pastor Martin Niemoeller at his home in Wiesbaden, Germany. He was a Protestant pastor who defied Hitler and subsequently spent several years in a concentration camp. His most often-quoted words compel me to continue this struggle for human rights: "In Germany they first came for the communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me - and by that time no one was left to speak up."
Unitarian Universalists over the centuries have stood for human rights. As a minority religion, we have understood discrimination. We are once again called to action. Homophobia is at the moral fault line of our society. How we deal with it will say a great deal about the moral integrity of America. It will be a long and arduous struggle; victory will not be achieved in our lifetime. It is therefore incumbent upon us to teach our children not to hate and fear.
I was encouraged when I read an Op-Ed piece by Linda and Ethan Grossman. Ethan had just joined Boy Scouts as a Tiger Cub. Then news broke about the homophobia of the Boy Scouts; mother and son had a conversation. She wrote, "He decided that he did not want to go to Boy Scouts unless it was open to all boys. We talked about 'gay' people ('that's just their own private business,' he told me) and we talked about discrimination. He chose not to go. I told my son that if he wanted to he could write a letter to the Boy Scouts organization.
I explained that if people want things to change, they have to speak out. In response Ethan printed this letter: "March 1998: To the Boy Scout leaders: I will not go to Boy Scouts if this organization keeps on not letting gay people in. I won't go to Tiger Cubs anymore. I'm not saying I'm gay, just some gay people are my friends. From Ethan, age 6."
Linda Grossman concludes, "My son, at age 6, sees people for who they are, not what they are - and he's willing to stand up for his beliefs. When his father and I named him, we chose a name - Ethan - that meant 'strong, firm and free' hoping that he'd grow to encompass the values. I am not disappointed."[3]
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