From: David King (GeezerPatrol@AOL.COM)
Date: Mon May 01 2000 - 13:10:56 CDT
WAHowland@AOL.COM writes:
>When this comes up, I never hear a word about all
>the people who would never let their boys in Scouting
>because they perceive it as a homophobic organization.
>When someone starts wailing about the boys we'd lose
>if we stopped fussing about this, let 'em consider all the
>ones we'd GAIN. My boy is as non-sexist as you can
>find, god bless him....
I have an amusing story:
As a life-long Unitarian, I have always considered myself to be
non-homophobic, but for some reason gay guys hate me on sight. Something
about my personality just brings out the worst in them. One such individual
decided to "do me in" by telling my scout troop that I was gay, of all things.
I returned from vacation to find all sorts of messages on my phone machine,
all "supportive." One family was NOT amused, however. When they did not get
the response they expected from our committee, they reported the allegation
to the local council. The committee in return vowed to "take it to the
Supreme Court!" Gee, thanks, but no thanks :-)
I learned a lot from the incident. The most interesting thing was how
readily even your friends are to believe an allegation, to just assume that
it is true and support you.
I also found that Auntie Beans' son's non-sexism to be more common than I
would have imagined. A couple mothers told me about their 11-12 year-old
sons sticking up for me, yelling "I don't CARE if Mr. King is GAY, he's a
GREAT Scoutmaster!" One of these boys was perviously outspoken in his
dislike of "homos."
One thing that the parents didn't seem to notice was that the 13-14 year-old
boys in my troop were suddenly very nervious around me. Before they had been
rebellious and hard to control, but now the tension was so thick that you
could cut it with a knife. I wonder how effective a gay Scoutmaster would be
around this age group?
One of the many pluses of this experience was that as soon as I "set everyone
straight," these 13-14 year-old boys changed completely. They were no longer
rebelious OR hard to control. Suddenly their anti-social energy seemed
channeled into working on advancement. Around me now they still exhibit a
trust, closeness, and warmth that is not typical for their age.
I called the local council, and they were very professional about the whole
thing. I learned that they would not have even contacted me about the
allegation unless they found some sort of supporting evidence. I think I
would rather have been contacted, however.
This incident did not make me feel any better about gay guys, at least the
obvious ones. They are entirely too high-strung and "catty." I would never
feel comfortable with one of them in any position of authority over me.
On the other hand, the BSA means just what it says about booting
heterosexuals who defend gay rights. Just look at the fact that the children
in my church cannot wear their religious emblem on their BSA uniform because
it is part of our religion to respect religious doubt and the human rights of
all people.
Of course, I live in the Northeastern US. I'm sure that things would have
been much different in other parts of the country. The BSA's position is
normal for the part of the country where they are located. The solution to
everyone's problems is obvious! Break up the scouting monopoly just like
they want to break up Microsoft.
All of my friends would be much more comfortable in a scouting organization
headquartered in the Northeast, than with an organization that has to keep
Utah happy.
Yours in Scouting,
David King
GeezerPatrol@AOL.Com
