AZMike

Although we have been assured by many that it won't happen, and that the LGBT pressure groups will be happy with the scalp they got, it seems likely that the lawsuits against COs (whether religious or religiously affiliated (like the Knights of Columbus and church PTAs) will begin soon against COs, without the legal protections of the Dale decision or Headquarters to back them up. Unless they have the legal resources and the will to back them up, they will fold, either by acquiescing or closing up shop. The LDS will probably be safe as their troops are an official youth program of their religi

Several people have posted that this is purely a Youth Safety Issue. There's nothing to see here, folks, move along smartly. It seems to be be a policy issue as well. If I'm not mistaken, were we not told that a) this sort of thing would not happen, as gay kids would have the sense and maturity to keep their hands to themselves, and b) COs could bounce a kid who is gay if he overtly acts on his sexual interests - i.e., one could self-identify as gay, but to act on those impulses should result in termination from the BSA. That seems to be the issue here: Can and should the gay scout be

The adult leader application is one of the few carbon-based non-life forms used today.

At party-supply stores, but I don't think dollar stores cut their prices even after holidays.

If you have an Eagle Court planned for your son or someone in your troop in the next year, stop by your local dollar store this week - you can pick up patriotic-themed decorations very inexpensively in the week before Independence Day. I spent $20 and got lots of flag-themed bunting, hangings, and table decorations. We put all our decorations, unused plates, napkins, blank invitations and programs, etc. in a big rubbermaid after a CoH and pass them on to the next family planning a CoH.

Lord Baden-Powell had a vision of Scouts stepping in to help after natural disasters, wars, etc. Nice to see this is going on in Derna, Libya, after the departure of the ISIS forces: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/derna-boy-scouts-step-in-to-help-run-city-after-isis-is-driven-out-of-libyan-stronghold-10344233.html

No one really knows who said it originally. Twain attributed it to Disraeli, but it's not in any of his writings. It was apparently a common expression long before Twain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics

For the same reason that a Episcopalian sponsored CO would not be able to demand that the BSA divest from any investments in the state of Israel (assuming it had any). The Episcopalian church recently changed its doctrine to allow for the ordination of homosexual men, just as it is likely to accommodate the interests of anti-Semites and call for the boycott and sanction Israel at its conference this summer (as the Presbyterian church already has). The BSA had a policy that was based on long-standing beliefs that were shared (until recently) by all the major religions. Those views sprang from

Perhaps you should declare yourself a troop that refuses to discriminate against black-powder firearms enthusiasts, or against handgun proponents. Surely discrimination of any kind is a bad thing (as we are now informed by the zeitgeist), so HQ should be willing to knuckle under and cease their support of discrimination. Likewise, the discrimination against alcohol imbibers, chainsaw users, convicted felons, and so forth. End all discrimination now.

If people want to put their sexual activity front and center as a significant marker of their identity, why should it be considered distasteful or rude to describe it? Even over rubber chicken?

Per NPR, a decision is going to be made by National by October. I think that's what I heard.

I would respond to you, but apparently we have been de-emphasized by the Powers That Be.

I have the strangest sensation that, like a dust bunny, those who disagree with what seems to be the new position of BSA headquarters are beginning to be swept under the rug...

Yep. If memory serves, the BSA did make a compromise two years ago. Wait, you mean that wasn't enough for the LGBT community?

As an example of what someone will face who has the effrontery of trying to preserve their CO's ability to decide whether to allow homosexual leadership, consider what happened to Esau Jardon up in Toronto. Leaving aside the differing degrees of religious freedom between the U.S. and Canada, it's an illustrative example of what social pressures can be brought to bear now on someone who did not even refuse to provide services to a gay wedding, but simply expressed the wrong opinions within his business. He did provide rings to a lesbian couple, who were happy with the rings he created for

I doubt that the KoC, which is registered with the government as a fraternal organization (for its tax exempt 501 ( c) (3) status) would be considered a religious organization that would be protected by the First Amendment. I agree with you that it should be, but the Obama Administration's defense of the contraception mandate (which attempted to very narrowly define what could be considered a "religious institution indicates that they would not feel it should be, and would be likely to use the force of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to side on behalf of any civil rights laws

Both I and my family fought against racial segregation, so your comparison is both ignorant, bigoted, and false. Rather than arguing the terminology, or trying to marginalize the views held by most Americans until recently by an invalid comparison, why don't you try to address the actual issue raised in the post. Do you disagree that forces outside Scouting will not be content with the so-called "Local Option"? If you do, on what basis do you make that claim?

One can only compromise with the other party if one is in a position to set terms for all the parties involved. There are scouters within the BSA community who would like to see the acceptance of homosexuals as adult leaders, and see the so-called Local Option as a compromise to allow troops that wish to maintain traditional values to continue to do so, and troops that wish to allow homosexual leaders to do so. That's fine, and I don't doubt that you and others in the latter category are sincere in your beliefs. But you are not in a position to speak for the very large and very well-f

That is both the strength and the weakness of the CO system. Many COs that appear to be churches are actually adjuncts of the church in question - such as the Knights of Columbus or the parochial school PTA. They do not have the legal protection afforded a religion. The legal status of church auxiliaries, and whether they can qualify under the 1st Amendment protections afforded churches are legally up in the air right now, due to the machinations of the current administration. The individuals who function as the CO's rep are often not full time employees of the church, and may have bus

Or find some activist judges that have the same views as you.

Yikes. Just yikes. I check out Bryan's blog but didn't see that on the thread about Gates' comment. Possibly deleted because it didn't fit the narrative.

I'm sorry that happened to you, eagle77. When historical revisionists argue that the ban on homosexual leaders is a new thing, and that there was some sort of Golden Age of tolerance when there was a de facto local option, and homosexual leaders were accepted, I think they are living in Cloud Cuckoo-Land. The sort of experience you had was not uncommon - the files that were released by the BSA on adult leaders who committed homosexual acts on scouts would make anyone's stomach turn, and the renewed emphasis in the BSA in the 1970s was largely in response to increasing awareness of the rate of

Oh, so not everyone who identifies themselves as "gay" to the community is actually trustworthy. Some self-identified homosexuals are actually interested in sex with teenage boys. Can I ask you to go back and read what I actually wrote. We are talking about the risks from pederasts here, as we are dealing with an almost exclusively male population of potential victims. Why are you talking about pedophiles, and where did you get the statistic that 99% of those are heterosexual? Given that 2% of the population is estimated to be homosexuals, why then do homosexuals account for far more

Ah. Like Chris J. Wilson, the openly gay, politically connected Phoenix Police Officer, who was their official community liaison to the LGBT community, who was arrested for having sex with two teenage boys he groomed? http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/lgbt-advocates-cast-a-pall-on-the-phoenix-pd-and-the-valleys-gay-community-6462115/ http://archive.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/20140213trial-phoenix-police-lgbt-liaison-accused-threats-brk.html. He happened to meet the two teenage boys he molested through his job. Good thing he wasn't a "pedophile," though. Or like Obama's

The local option is, quite simply, allowing the camel to get its nose under the tent. Once the camel can get its nose in there, you soon have the entire camel in the tent with you. Things will be different from then on. I have no idea what the numbers will be afterwards, but there'll be at least one volunteer less. As Allahpundt wrote on the Hotair blog: Gates’s solution: Let each troop sponsor set its own standards. If religious sponsors like churches want to maintain the ban on gay Scout leaders, they can. If non-religious sponsors want to allow gay leaders, they can. It’s a fed