Hi Chuck.
Just wanted to drop you a brief note on this today. I know our Council already supports overturning the ban, and that we already have a non-discrimination policy in place. I am a member of “Scouts for Equality”, and while I know other councils are struggling with this, I am blessed with a certain smugness by being ahead of the curve on this issue.
However, I feel that I can’t say this enough times; national policy is absolutely destroying us.
This past year, I’ve been forced to have a conversation about this with my Cub Scouts. At a public popcorn sale, the rate of refusal was better than 50%, and I felt I needed to pull the boys aside and re-assure them that they weren’t doing anything wrong. So I did tell them what was going on, and why.
Also recently, I ‘ve had some recruiting events where parents have refused to sign up their boys, and I regret that some time ago now I had an actual shouting match with a parent while in full uniform over this…not my proudest moment as a Scouter, I’m sad to report.
Nevertheless, I’m very glad that Boston Minuteman is a national leader on this. I know we are on the right side of history, and I surely hope for a favourable decision from National come this May. I would hope that Boston Minuteman is doing everything in it’s power to network with other Scouters from around the region and is working to convince the closed-minded among our ranks that this will not destroy the movement. In fact, I’m convinced that we need to evolve in order to survive.
I’ve been a member of this organization since I joined as a Wolf Cub Scout myself back in October of 1974….that’s a very long time to be dedicated to a youth group. I will not mince words here; this membership crisis has provoked an existential crisis for me, and should National decide to remain an exclusionary and homophobic organization, I am strongly considering retiring from it entirely.