mashmaster

I hope you are right. I know we have a lot of leadership in our district that is LDS and I would hate to lose them.

It is interesting to see the differences in YPT for Cub/Boy Scouts and Venture scouts. That was actually not too bad.

Barry, You and I will never agree on these points. I have gay friends, grew up around gay people, and and happily married with 3 kids raising them the best I can. I have never been to a gay pride parade and they haven't had them around me so I don't really have a chance to see them if I wanted to. But I refuse to generalize a group of people like you are doing. Comparing gay to KKK is very odd to me. (I refuse to go there) I wish you well in your scouting experience with your son and I you are able to insulate him from everything you see as evil in this world. Yours in Scouting

I don't want my scouts modelling any sexuality learned in scouting, hetero or homo. To me it is a non-scouting issue. We have parents that smoke or drink but never at scout functions....

In Texas it is a law to have face to face YPT for any camps over 2 days, and current within the year.

I think some people think the world is made of people that act and believe just like them but who knows.

Hey, I grew up in LA where we had XXX stores and drug houses. I don't think crack was around yet. I don't think the analogy works, it is more like my situation where I am Jewish and have had people stop and stand with their jaws wide open when they find that out. Even had people question me if I was really Jewish because they found that hard to believe. Being in the bible belt they think everyone is Baptist or some kind of evangelical Christian.

I was out of the state last week and talking to a co-worker that is LDS based in Utah. I knew he did scouting so I asked him his opinion, it was interesting. He said his only problem is now that it is legal to be a gay leader kids going to camp might be around gay people. I mentioned that there are a lot of parents and other non-leaders at council events so that has always been the case. I am pretty sure I saw him turned another shade of white after I said this. That was an interested conversation.

Yeah, I agree. We are going to order 50 and see how it goes.

We just stick to the $10 carmel option and that sells well, the rest is just a pain.

Quote from the place the BadWolf mentioned earlier came to $100 for initial cost to create the stamp the first time. Then the first 50-99 medalions were $4 a piece. After 100 they drop in price to $3 a piece.

Then why does BSA have religous emblems for non-aramaic religions. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Awards/ReligiousAwards.aspx

Somehow we end up never spending up to our budget so every year it grows. This year over $10k, so we are purchasing major capital investments like a trailer, shed, and sending the boys on a free trip. We are cubs so they don't have super expensive treks to save for. But we encourage them to sell popcorn to earn their way to summer & winter camp.

Forwarding from a statement from our council. The most interesting to me is that Jewish committee has decided to know recommend scouting. Previously, they were discouraging it top their congregations. Several national committees aligned with major religious chartered organizations have released statements supporting their faith's continued relationship with Scouting: Association of Baptists for Scouting: http://www.bsacac.org/my_files/baptist_assoc.pdf Catholic Committee on Scouting: http://www.bsacac.org/my_files/catholic_cmte.pdf General Commission on United Methodist Men: http://www.bsacac.org/my_files/methodist_commission.pdf Jewish Committee on Scouting: http://www.bsacac.org/my_files/jewish_cmte.pdf

Thanks I called them.

Has anyone every made a custom medallion for their unit or district?

We just need to tell them what the current policy is an be transparent. That way it is up to them to make the decision. Anything can change in a few months so they are joining on the rules today without any warranty. If they don't like a change they are always free to join another unit or stop scouting. We can't control any of that.

I am a leader in my unit and district, there is a unit in our area that would not allow me to be a leader because I am not their religion. So my son knew that he was not going to that unit and I consider it their loss. In fact, that units policy has driven away almost all of their leaders and is about to fold. So I think local option is working IMHO.

Have you asked? We talked about the potential with our CO over a year ago about their feeling on the matter, then again when the decision was made. This should not have been a surprise to anyone as this was one of the leading options when the youth decision was made. Our CO was clear and decisive on their position early on and reconfirmed it with us last week.

When has discriminatory practices in anything held the test of time? Posting the most or shouting down others does not make you right. This isn't a liberal or conservative thing, it is a discrimination thing. Churches continue to evolve their beliefs over time and those changes go towards more openness and inclusiveness. People were against integrating races in BSA and that went away because it became a non-issue, people were against woman being leaders and that became a non-issue. We need to look at the forest and not the trees, nobody should be talking or demonstrating any sexuality to or in front of the boys/girls. That is an issue to be taught in other venues (home, church, school), The youth do not care about that, they want to camp and have fun. On of my scout parents was a scout in the 70's and his straight leader did bad things. People that will do bad things sadly are across the board, so I don't buy the argument that homosexuality or heterosexuality makes someone more predatory than the other.

Yes but there are two other threads on the same issue already....

I'm not Mormon either, I'm on district and a large number of our units are. So our district will be affected if they leave. Our CO has already told us they are fine with the decision, they are Lutheran FWIW.

How many threads are we going to have on this topic? The decision has been made, we are all waiting for the responses from the LDS church. Whether you agree with it, it is done. Time to move forward, IMHO.

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We use USGS maps and UTM coordinates :-) Luckily, I have a parent that works for USGS and can plot them at scale for us. The app Handy GPS is a great app to use. Useful websites/tools/apps: GMap4 : a site that uses google maps in a browser to see maps in a browser and retrieve UTM coordinates. www.MappingSupport.com USGS: US Geological Survey, download accurate topological maps in 1:24,000 scale. Maps can be printed across several pages and pieced together or large color maps can be ordered for a small fee. Grid locator template: A template that can be printed on overhead transparency material to help locate the location on the map. https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/maps/gps/GPS_Locater.pdf