Letters: Scouting’s new path

Re “Scouts end ban on gay youths,” May 24

The basic reason that up until last week the Boy Scouts of America excluded openly gay youth has been overlooked.

At its most fundamental level, all policy is decided by the national council, as The Times has reported. But it’s important to know that the national council members are appointed by the regional councils, whose members are determined by the local councils. Every organization that sponsors a unit gets to vote at the local council.

So who sponsors Scout units? The vast majority are churches or other religious organizations. Look at the official policies on homosexuality of many of these organizations and you have the reason the Boy Scouts of America has a great deal of difficulty changing policy.

The councils set policy, not the Scouting professionals. I have been active locally in Scouting for more than 50 years, and this has always been the problem with changing policy.

Karl Hinderer

Newbury Park

As a gay man who was persecuted in his youth with no openly LGBT adults to confide in, I consider the Scouts’ decision to include gay boys but not adults a halfhearted and halting step. It’s a tragic double message: You’re welcome to join us, but those who would serve as your role models are not.

I urge the Scouts to take the next step toward full inclusion.

Gabriel J. McGowan

Fullerton

Those doom-and-gloomers predicting disaster in the Boy Scouts due to, horror of horrors, allowing gay youth to join sound amazingly like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) when he predicted that allowing openly gay men and women to serve in our military would also cause problems.

Now we know just how wrong McCain was, and I’m quite certain we will see the same positive results with the intelligent integration of gay youth into an organization that, outside of a small pocket of bigoted religious conservatives, is a wonderful community for growth for all young boys.

Jim B. Parsons

Carpinteria

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