Boy Scouts Ask Gay Man to Sever Ties With Group

The Boy Scouts have asked an El Cajon police officer who served as an adviser to his department’s Explorer program to sever his ties with Scouting because he is homosexual.

The Boy Scouts of America’s local council moved to suspend Officer Chuck Merino after he publicly discussed his homosexuality at a community meeting in San Diego.

El Cajon Police Chief Jack Smith described Merino as a “superb” officer and said the council’s decision is “extremely uncalled-for and very unfortunate.”

Merino, 37, said the letter asking him to sever his ties with Scouting came as “a shock and great disappointment.”

“I’m preparing a response now that asks why I no longer fit their ‘acceptable standards,’ ” he said. “I’d like to know what exactly has changed.”

Merino says he publicly declared his sexual orientation several months ago at a community meeting in Hillcrest held to discuss hate crimes against homosexuals. He thinks word of that meeting traveled back to local Scouting officials.

The Aug. 25 letter from local Boy Scout Council President Ronald Brundage told Merino he no longer meets “the high standards of membership which the Boy Scouts of America seeks to provide for American youth.”

Brundage declined Tuesday to speak specifically about the letter, but he said national Boy Scouts policy prohibits “anyone who professes to be a homosexual” from working in Scouting.

The letter says Merino can appeal the local council’s decision to the Boy Scouts’ national office. Merino said he plans to do that after consulting his lawyer.