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Married Venturers


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Being a college student, I get to meet an excellent group of people who are both Venturers and young adults. It's great sitting on the fence watching youth and their adult counterparts work/play together outside of Scouting. It now comes to the point where a married couple, under 21 want to join Venturing where a crew is chartered at a local university.

 

What is the current policy of married Venturers (both under 21, over 18) sharing the same tents, buddy system, etc? This question also applies for over 21 married to

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Interesting question, if you are under 21 in Venturing you are still considered a youth member and the rules clearly state no cohabitation. Being married still does not make you an adult member. This is a call for your Advisor and committee to make because this situation is not really covered in the Venture rule book, my guess is that the answer would be no because you are not yet considered an adult. I myself as an Advisor would take it under advisement and discuss it with the other adults in the crew to try and work something out.

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The Guide to Safe Scouting 2003 edition (http://www.usscouts.org/safety/g2ss.html) states in bold print the following:

 

4. Male and female leaders must have separate sleeping facilities. Married couples may share the same quarters if appropriate facilities are available.

 

5. Male and female youth participants will not share the same sleeping facility.

 

So I believe that means married leaders okay, married participants not okay. I would check with your council, too.

 

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Where did my posting go??

I see that the G2SS says married couples. It does not mention them being Leaders, parents or anything but married couples. So I think that married couples are couples that are married.

While I don't think that there will be many Venturers that will be married couples, it would not go against my idea of a family based organization which stresses family values to not allow them to share the same quarters.

Eamonn.

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When a man and a woman are married, in the eyes of God as well as in the eyes of the state, as far as I'm concerned we honor the marriage.

 

If the facilities allow it i.e. a two person tent, a man and his wife sleep together regardless of age. Period. end of report.

 

Unc.

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An update to my previous post. I spoke to my SE today about this because I have a similar problem in my crew. His reply was that even if one of the couple is over 21 but the other is under 21 then under no circumstances can they share quarters on a crew outing. The reason given is the younger spouse is still regarded as a youth participant married or not and should not cohabitat during the outing. He stated that if she was not a registered Venturer then the rule would be moot. The couple in my crew was not happy with the answer. I'm not sure if I like the answer either. Eamonn, apparently this situation is more common than I thought.

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I remember from Venturing Leader Training that a venturing adult was not allowed to have a romantic relationship with a venturing youth. I thought back to my youth and if I and my ex wife was brought forward in time warp to know one of us would not be able to be in the program together. I was 21 and she 18 when we married. It is more than just tenting with the way the rules are written there are strict rules in Venturing about the relationships between the adults and the youth. If I remember my training I dont think they can be Venturing. I remember it because it struck me that my ex wife and I would not have been allowed in Venturing. I just thought that was wrong. It didn't if you were married, engaged or going out. If you both under 21 it is OK, if only one of you is, it is not.

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While I agree that it is not right for a registered adult leader to become "Involved" with a person who is registered as a youth member. And If the SE in a Council says that legally married couples can't share a tent. He is the boss.

Still I just don't see where he is getting this from. It is not what the guide says. Could it be that he is worried that there might be the "Honey Moon Tent"?

Eamonn

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Under 21 are considered youth members, married or not. Youth members of the opposite sex may not share sleeping arrangements (i.e. the same tent). Therefore, only if the "couple" are NOT avowed homosexuals (would get them barred from the BSA) but ARE members of the same sex AND reside in a state that recognizes same sex marriage could they sare the same tent. For all of that to occur would be bizarre indeed!(This message has been edited by acco40)

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Violations of most G2SS policies come with an obvious down side. Swimming without adequate supervision, riding in the back of a pickup truck, unmarried individuals sharing a tent all have fairly obvious consequences.

 

But someone help me out here. I can't think of any negative outcome of married couple sharing accommodations simply because they are under 21 that wouldn't also be true for a couple over 21.

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Consider that if we were talking about a Troop rather than a Crew, and the two married (to each other) 18year olds were registered as ASMs, this question would not even come up. Where is the common sense in any of this? What lesson are we teaching? That rules are rules, even if they are devoid of any logic? That's why this country was founded in the first place! (faint sounds of God Bless America in the background...)

 

The r

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