Re: Venturing OA

James Wellborn wrote:
> OK, Explorers are "now" Learning for Life and not BSA so no one there
> goes OA. If an Explorer was OA with a Troop or (formerly) Post, is he
> still eligable to participate with OA activities as a member? As a
> guest?

You must have a current BSA registration to be an active OA member.
I have heard of nothing changing that. So, presumably, since Learning
for Life participants aren't members of BSA, they can't be active OA
members unless they are dual registered. Purely a guess on my part,
though; perhaps some change is in the pipeline to cover the new
"participants".

> Venturing remains BSA and a male having 1st class rank and camping
> prerequisites is eligable for OA, if not through Venture Crew (???),
> then with
> a dual registration with a Troop.

Posts could not hold elections. Again, I have heard of no changes for
Venturers. So, presumably again, it would have to be through a Troop.

> 14+ year old females who are or will become Venture Crew members, can
> not register with a BSA Troop and are not eligable for OA because they
> don't have (and are unable to get) the rank requirement.

Correct.

> Adult Troop Scouters are selected for OA by the Committee. There is no
> requirement for previous rank and they have no avenue for BSA Rank as an
> adult (above 18). I recall seeing female Scouters in OA.

Correct again. Adults (regardless of sex) can be nominated in two ways.
The first is by the Troop Committee. This requires meeting the same
camping criteria as youth candidates. The second is by the District
or Council, which does not require the camping. These adults are
supposed to be nominated for the contributions they can make to the
Order, not as a recognition of past service. We now have many adult
female OA members.

> So non-adult females do not have an OA or OA equivalent as a youth BSA
> participant, reguardless of their camping or leadership skills.

Correct again.

> Which of these statements, in part or whole, is innaccurate?
>
> If these statements are correct, with the influences of litigation, how
> has (will) OA managed to stay out of court (or at least out of the
> headlines) for
> discrimination issues?

OA is, for youth, strictly a Troop-level program. OA isn't
discriminating; any Boy Scout who meets the requirements is eligible.
(Now, for a discussion of whether Boys Scouts is discriminatory, see
rec.scouting.issues)

An analogy might be that a female couldn't very well sue to make the
all-star team if she wasn't first allowed to play the sport.

On the Post (or now Crew) level, there is no discrimination, because
OA is not a part of that program area. Male Venturerers aren't
eligible for election either.

YiS,

John Conley
Arrowhead District Commissioner
Finger Lakes Council (NY)

*Better to build boys than mend men*

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message
• Previous message
• Maybe in reply to
• Next in thread