Boy Scouts will allow girls to join
The Boy Scouts of America's board of directors has unanimously agreed to welcome girls into the Cub Scout program and to forge a path for older girls to pursue and earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout, the organization said Wednesday.
"The historic decision comes after years of receiving requests from families and girls," Boy Scouts of America said in a statement. "[T]he organization evaluated the results of numerous research efforts, gaining input from current members and leaders, as well as parents and girls who've never been involved in Scouting -- to understand how to offer families an important additional choice in meeting the character development needs of all their children."
BSA said the move is also aimed at helping busy families consolidate programs for their children.
Tags
Who is online
69 visitors
Many scouting groups in other countries like Canada and the UK are already coed.
For an organization that has such a very long history of being bigoted and stuck in the mud the BSA has evolved dramatically in just 2 or 3 years. My guess is that the pro-LGBT policies encouraged the bigots to leave, thus allowing more progressive policies. In particular the movement of the more extreme Southern Baptist to form their own anti-LGBT scouting group, and the pending loss of the LDS for older boys has allowed the BSA to improve,
The other way to look at it is they've taken so many hits to their membership the past few years that they needed to do something like this. However it's probably bad news for the Girl Scouts.
From an historic perspective this swings the pendulum back away from its hard right swing in 1975 when the leadership was taken over by reactionary conservatives who moved the national headquarters from CT to TX and then officially banned gays.
That's true. There are still a lot of parents who don't want their son to spend the weekend in a tent with a homosexual.
Such parents sound like rather ignorant freaks but they do echo the concerns of Southern Baptists and Mormons several decades ago who didn't want their white kids sharing a tent with a black kid.
Skrekk, there are still people with enough common sense who know how to make rational decisions and aren't bigoted, Southern Baptist or Mormons. Then there are the idiots.
No one who would act in such a homophobic manner is rational, but I agree that not all the dumb bigots in the world are SBC or LDS. Those were just the two bigoted cults which have dominated scouting since 1975, and which have whined the loudest as the BSA has dropped its support for racism, homophobia and transphobia.
In fact those cults are the reason the BSA has been in the dark ages compared to the scouting movements in pretty much every western country.
Comment removed for skirting the CoC [ph]
If you doubt what I've said feel free to challenge me on any of the points I've made.
Liberal loons are turning the scouting movements into a bowel movement.
Right, they’d rather allow their sons to spend the weekend in a tent with a child molester.
They probably won't want their sons in a tent with the gay Mayor of Seattle.
Being gay does not automatically make one a pedophile. In fact, approximately 90% of pedophiles/child molesters are heterosexual, married men.
Or any church with a priest...
Considering that fact that there hasn't been an epic international scandal about Imams, your comment is unfounded.
You do know that I can list DOZENS of Catholic diocese RIGHT HERE IN THE US who covered up DECADES of child rape right?
That's true.
A pedophile who prefers children of the same sex as they are makes them a gay pedophile.
So? One reason we have gender based scouting is so my young daughter (if I had one) doesn’t have to sleep in the same tent with a man. I don’t care about the statistics regarding the likelihood of him being a pedophile because her chance of being molested by a man in a tent is zero if he’s not there.
Same goes for my young son sleeping in the tent with an adult homo. I don’t care how likely it is that he’s a pedophile because the chance of him being molested in the tent by a homo is zero if the homo isn’t there. And if the homo is sexually deviant enough to be a homo, then he might be deviant in other respects as well. Better to be safe than sorry.
Got it facts and truths don't matter to you, only your imagination and prejudices.
E.A So right, But what the above shows about he one that posted that is what is called " Cherry Picking "
Let me explain if homosexuals generally make up 1 - 3.9 % of the populace while that means that heterosexuals make up the remainder, what percentile of Paedophiles in the Homosexual community will be Greater then the Heterosexual?
On what was posted above it would show that 10 % is the number, so 10% of 100/1% is a Huge number who ever reads it!
Who said there are no gay pedophiles? I certainly didn't; I said that approximately 90% of pedophiles/child molesters are heterosexual, married men -- probably a lot like you, in fact.
WRONG. Pedophiles/child molesters are attracted to age, not gender, and will usually prey on whichever gender is more readily available to them (which is why priests usually molested boys; even Jerry Sandusky is a heterosexual, married man who is attracted to teenagers, and preyed on the males that he was coaching). Pedophilia is not a sexual orientation, like heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality are.
Homosexuals are no more "sexually deviant" than heterosexuals. Deviancy is in the eye of the beholder; just because YOU think they are deviant doesn't make it true.
YOU are more likely to molest your daughter or son than a homosexual is, statistically speaking.
No male is going to prey on another male of any age unless he is attracted to males. If he has sex with boys, then he is a homosexual pedophile by definition.
Sorry but you are wrong. A person who prefers the same sex is homosexual. A person who prefers both is bisexual
Jerry Sandusky was a closeted gay man or bisexual.
Pedophilia is about age preference.
The mayor of Seattle is openly gay. He is also charged with pedophilia of young boys. I guess that shoots down your argument.
Or in a house with Josh Duggar, whose family publicly equated homosexuality with pedophilia.
Heterosexuality is the norm so homosexuality is deviant by definition. The fact that YOU think otherwise doesn’t make it true.
There are no statistics that say incest among normal people is more likely than pedophilia among homosexuals. Even if there were, I still don’t want my young daughter sleeping in the tent with a heterosexual man or my son sleeping with a homosexual.
LOL. You've obviously never been involved in scouting and are unaware of current policies. Adults don't share tents with scouts and no adult is ever left alone with scouts. The BSA has a "two deep" policy.
And you must be unaware of all the litigation against the BSA for harboring homosexual pedophiles who used the organization to prey on boys especially on camping trips or other outings. Although the BSA has been forced to disclose some of its files, there may be over 2000 files that the organization has kept secret. The current policy is a step forward but it hasn’t stopped the allegations of abuse since predators are resourceful and kids are easy prey.
But only if the priest is homosexual.
The only way to justify this is if the Girl Scouts are going out of business. That isnt happening is it?
I disagree.
I was in the Girl Scouts growing up. We were taught sewing and table etiquette. Ugh. Not really what I joined up for. Had joining the Boy Scouts been an option at the time, I'd rather have done that, and done what I'd originally joined the Girl Scouts for.
If girls can't participate in the same activities in Girl Scouts as they could in Boy Scouts, as it was with my chapter, then joining Boy Scouts may be a good option.
That's what I mean... Why not just have Scouts? Boys would benefit from learning how to sew on a button, as well as girls. Girls would benefit from learning how to tie knots, just like the boys do... Maybe it should all be one organization, to begin with.
Exactly.
I quit Girl Scouts over that - when I joined, I couldn't have cared less about salad forks, soup spoons, or how to tilt my pelvis when I sat at the dinner table (yes, that was actually something we learned). I wanted to be outside doing something.
But what if someone is Transgender-- they'd have a hard time to decide which group to join! (Its hard enough deciding which bathroom to use-- now they've got another tough decision to make
)
That's a justification for making scouts co-ed. My question is, will the boys have to wear skirts, or will the girls have to wear pants? Actually, shorts are pretty neutral.
Speaking of sexual identity-- here's something Facebook came up with a while back. (File it under the "Truth is Stranger Than Fiction Dept"). This is not supposed to be a joke-- they're really serious about this:
Here Are All the Different Genders You Can Be on Facebook
Facebook on Thursday added more than 50 custom gender options for users who don't identify simply as "male" or "female." While this was welcome news to LGBTQ advocates, the company did not publish a list of all the options, leaving users to begin typing into an empty text field in order to bring up a drop-down menu of autocomplete choices. (The site does not seem to allow users to simply leave the field blank, or to type in a gender identifier that is not among the preset options.)
Facebook told me it has no plans to publish a comprehensive list of the choices it offers. So we took it upon ourselves to reconstruct it by typing each letter of the alphabet into the text field, one at a time, and transcribing the options that appeared. We found 56 custom options, bringing the total number of options to 58 including male and female. Please note that it's possible that the list below is not complete. If you find one that we missed, please feel free to point it out in the comments and we'll update accordingly.
Agender
Androgyne
Androgynous
Bigender
Cis
Cisgender
Cis Female
Cis Male
Cis Man
Cis Woman
Cisgender Female
cont'd:
(Which one do you identify with? You can see all the available choices HERE)
Why wasn't "shemales" on the list?
That's what I meant by "shemales". They have the advantage of both sexes. I wonder if it would be considered incest if they happened to fertilize themselves. If I recall from biology class, they could be called hermaphrodites.
I guess that's different than saying Canada has only two seasons: Winter and Construction.
Here's an article by a trans woman who was a scout.
Will boy cub scouts now go door to door selling cookies? Better not be Oreo cookies because they're racist. Can no longer be brown on the outside and white in the middle, or white on the outside and brown in the middle - will have to be only one light muddy colour throughout or there will be protests with cars set on fire, breakins and looting. Welcome to America. Only college students will be safe - they can run to their safe rooms and play with their play-dough.
How long have you been saving that comment for the perfect spot to use it Buzz? Too bad this wasn't it.
I actually enjoy the fact that you feel it necessary to follow me around and criticize my contributions to this site, John. It gives me that really nice feeling one gets when being followed around by a puppy dog.
I went easy on you Buzz. Your comment was ridiculous.
I meant it to be, John. I read about that ridiculous insanity creeping all over the USA these days.
The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have nothing to do with racism , college campuses , or your obsessions about political correctness.
Yours is an ironic comment given that until 1974 the BSA allowed scout troops to be as racist as they liked.
You will probably just have some girls selling popcorn. Chill.
Maybe they can sell Girl Scout cookies with the Boy Scouts, too. More Girl Scout cookies for everybody! Woohoo!
I don't mind this, but they should do away with "boy" and "girl" scouts, and just make one big "Scouts".
That's how scouting works in most western countries in the WOSM.
As posted above, do away with Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts
Yes - they should
merge...
Have at it.
They could have a sex ed badge
Hey what a concept, they can call the results mini-cubs..... /s
Not only that, they could provide live demonstrations and practice sessions.
Maybe the Boy Scouts should change its name to the Boy Friends.
"Pre-adult Scouts" ? "Multi-gender Scouts"?
This is another example. Females are not satisfied until they filter into every aspect of the male life.
Who cares if they are going on camping trips, or hikes, or to summer camps with the boys. Does it really matter? And besides, this was a decision made by the Boy Scouts board of directors (wanna bet they are all men?), no one forced them to do it. Essentially they saw there was interest, and decided to go with it and see how it turns out.
I could care less about camping trips, etc. Did I mention that? Don't think so.
is there a badge for that?
So no co-ed summer camps at all? What about church camps?
Then what are you complaining about?
You're kidding right? The BSA WON their legal battles. They are changing because they are LISTENING to the people who they serve.
They are listening to the LACK of coins jingling in the treasury according to the Girl Scouts and I have to agree with them. Just more members and more coin in the coffers. PERIOD. To think otherwise I think is a bit pretentious and utopian "rainbows and unicorns" thinking.
I honestly don't get what the fuss is all about. It is their organization, they can do what they like with it. When I was little, I was a Camp Fire Girl. What's the difference?
Are the badges that different? It seems to me that either boys or girls would benefit from some of the badges they earn...
It's still a WTF moment for me. Maybe not if we're talking about the "Sea Scouts" or the like. Maybe then i would get it but the "Boy Scouts?"
They are now guilty of false advertising so i suggest they change their name to the "Kid Scouts" or something like that quick before they get sued by the Shyster Scouts.
Or, they could double the number of salespeople.
I'm a lot more likely to buy Girl Scout cookies than Boy Scout popcorn. The Boy Scouts have an opportunity to make a deal here.
so does the girl have to wear the boy's uniform?
Well, this is certainly going to make camping trips a whole lot more interesting. Probably for the first time in history scouts will volunteer in pairs to go find firewood. Scouts will also start requesting partner patrol duty...
I can see the lawsuits flowing out of this decision down the road. A couple of kids are going to do something stupid and the BSA is going to get blamed.
I KNOW! I mean, this is such a new concept, coed summer camps, the HORROR!
If only there were organizations, like the 4H, the YMCA or the Camp Fire that could give the BSA some pointers on how to deal with coed summer camps.
Oh wait...
Diversity is often a good thing, but it's not necessary to have every conceivable type of diversity in every situation.
Boys and girls interact all day long at school, so it's not like they need scouting to give them the exposure. Sometimes it's good for boys to be with boys and girls to be with girls.
And anyway, where is the girl who would rather be in the Boy Scouts than the Girl Scouts? Why?
I explained elsewhere why I would rather have been in the Boy Scouts than the Girl Scouts. My chapter of Girl Scouts didn't go outside - we learned how to sew pretty frilly crap and table etiquette. I joined because Girl Scouts were supposed to do cool things like camp and hike. You know, things Boy Scouts do. Not to be trained up as a debutante.