BSA is as much a religious organization as a social one. Therefore, its policies are partially dictated by those of the churches that support it, including, but not limited to Catholic, Lutheran and Southern Baptist parishes.

Are they really? I know a bunch of gay kids who were in the scouts.

They are closely affiliated with the church/religion. I was a girl scout for 7 years (of course, when I was a little girl, I had no idea about sexual orientation). Part of the scout oath is "to serve God and my country." Now, of course, not all people who are religious are bigots, but apparently many affiliated with BSA are. Some people like to hang on to the lame stereotypes that homosexuals are child molesters and "recruiters."

Who knows why any person or organization is bigoted and prejudiced? I just know they don't get any of my money and support until they become inclusive.

I had no idea.thank you for this question. how sad. everyone should have the opportunity to particpate.What is that teaching the children involved ?

The Boy Scouts require it's members to believe in God and in turn follow the teachings of the bible. One of which is homosexuality being a sin. I think that is why they are against homosexuals being in the Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts frown on "pre-marital sex". With homosexual marriage not so widely practiced and accepted, I would imagine that is why they don't like homosexuality. It's sex outside of marriage.

A private organization, like the Scouts, can set the criteria for it's membership. There is nothing to stop an organization for boys being formed that is similar to the Boy Scouts of America and is open to homosexuals or heterosexual and homosexual combined or require a certain IQ and higher or lower or that is for Atheists or Pagans or whatever. Many people think that they are public entity because of the name. But there are a lot of private organizations and businesses that use U.S.A. and/or America in their name eg. "Home Movers of America".

certain scoutmasters might feel jealous!

Maybe not contagious... there is already widespread homophobia. The Boy Scouts started off as a bunch of different organizations in various parts of the country all based loosly on a British version of the same thing. After some years all of the various scouting organizations eventually ended up as the one we all know. At the core of scout training is teaching the kids good morals and when you look at the time period that the scouts were forming (the early 1900's) homosexuality was considered morally bad. That thinking has continued into modern times and is most likely why homosexuality is frowed upon by the organization-- although I am so very sure that there have been plenty of Gay members and leaders... they just didnt bother to tell anyone. :D

As a church supported organization, they believe that homosexuality is a sin. It is a belief that is a deeply held part of their religion. So far, free thinking people haven't been able to make much progress in changing that.

Thank you Poljot. Could you give me the name of the suit or any other details that would be helpful? Thanks again!

One of the rules of the Boy Scouts is that all members must uphold a moral standard, or the wishes of the Lord. Apparently, they've decided that homosexuals can't do that. They're a private organization, so they can do whatever they want, I suppose.

They are a private organization, not public. That means they can set the criteria for their members. Think about the ages of boys that participate in scouts. Boys can be really cruel at those ages, and not very understanding of differences. Also, think about this: if there are no homosexuals in the scouts ( that includes scoutmasters), then there are no complications regarding one member having interest for another. Part of what makes scouts work is not having to worry about girls involved, so no complications due to interest. Toss a homosexual into the mix, and all the safety and security that comes from being in an asexual environment goes out the window. If you were a young boy out on a camping trip with your troop, would you want to be undressing near or sleeping right beside a homosexual? Do you really think that kids can be that understanding all the time? No way in hell. To allow openly gay members would make them a target, and destroy the any comfort a boy would have in an asexual environment. This is another case of the minority whining, and the majority being expected to bend to the will of the minority. Like it or not, the Boy Scouts of AMERICA were founded in a democratic nation. That means majority rule, not minority. Just because a minority group decides to whine and call foul, doesn't mean they have any right to special treatment if that goes against the majority wishes, ESPECIALLY the majority wishes of a PRIVATE organization.

its because there are so many cases in the boy scouts (not necessarily with gay kids) where they were caught sexually experimenting with each other. its a lot of paper work, and usually bad press.

I think it's because it would be too much of a temptation for the pedophile scout masters

They receive a lot of support from the Mormon church and the church doesn't want to be associated with that sort of thing.

homosexual is a sin from a biblical point of view. Christian Jews and Muselms Do agree on the fact that God Made man and woman. And marrige is for husbane and wife. But many people are blurred into accepting irrmoral things

Because the BSA is a christian organization that accepts a narrow definition of christian thought that believes homosexuality to be wrong. I am an Eagle Scout who happens to disagree with this fucked philosophy.

you are supposed to be morally straight as they say in their hand book and most are run by church groups and they don't want gay boys running around and being gay with other boys. most boys i know have had sex or experiment at summer camps or weekend camp overs, yes you have tried things so is that gay or not. as for being contagious no i don't think so. i was involved in a nudist camp group and we were boyscouts and we had activities in the nude and we were not gay but it was shut down as they the boyscouts thought that we would do things in a sexual way. like i said it happens there and boys will engage in displaying sex acts during puberty and after so thanks boyscouts of america for closing us down as we did nothing but have fun being nude that's not being gay at all.

For one I think most kids do not know they are homosexual, shoot had people told me things when I was younger I might have turned lesbian, I was a total tomboy. And this is silly really, God wants the "lost sheep" to be involved and go to church and stuff, he isnt looking for the ones that is found, he wants the lost ones. I think gay people should be allowed in church no matter what. Its nobodys place to judge them and most people who go to church probably do bad things in their private lives but since it isnt out in the open man cant judge them and tell them to stay out of the curuch. Gay people are people too and God loves them just as much as he does all his other children and if they are willing to visit him in his home do you think he would turn them away? heck no, he would open the door and say welcome home son or daughter, I love you. Its the people in churches that make God look bad and mean, not God himself. God loves his children no matter what. People just tend to forget that. So somebody needs to argue this point too, everybody should be welcome in the scouts if they at least believe in God.

Their bigger concern has been with respect to scoutmasters. Frankly, anyone with a "sexual agenda" is a problem with respect to supervising children. I wouldn't feel any more comfortable about an activist who promotes sex with vegetables supervising a troop, or a straight pornographer, or the organizer of B&D-fest 2009. And if a straight married troopmaster wants to tell his troop how wonderful marital sex is (or isn't), that's not ok either.

Boy Scouts is a private organization. They should have the freedom to choose membership requirements. No one if forced to join the Boy Scouts. Otherwise what would stop a Nazi from becoming a Rabbi ?

It's an all boys club for a reason. They want no "affairs" in the club. If the boys are gay than...they are back to square one. So they had to reiderate it to be NO GIRLS OR GAYS. It's no big deal really. Those who make a deal out of it just want to pick a fight.

Let's be clear here. I don't support gay people being killed or beaten or anything else for that matter. To the contrary, I hope that all of the perpetrators you mentioned are punished to the fullest extent of the law (though I'm not fond of hate crime laws). . You have not demonstrated that there is an upswing in such beatings, that is to say a backlash. What you have demonstrated is that horrible things are still done to gay people and I am truly sorry to see what was in your posts.

No not contagious. But you wouldn't put little boys in with girlscouts would you? Boys like girls then you can't put them with girls and vice versa. If he likes boys no boyscouts. Just little gay tea time.