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Scouting in America

On my honor, I will do my best. To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the

Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake

and morally straight (Scout Oath, Scouting.org). Boy Scouts everywhere recite these very

words every week at their meetings promising to everyone in attendance that they will live up to

them and strive to do their best always. The issue that arises though is that these words have no

single meaning and are able to be interpreted and adapted to each scout and scouter individually.

To some being physically strong means that they get up and walk a half mile every day while to

others it means they need to be able to lift at least seven school busses full of popcorn. Each and

every word in that oath are up to interpretation. In the last ten years or so, the morally straight

portion of the oath has come under scrutiny. With the allowance of openly gay scouts in 2013

and now transgender youth into the program as of January 2017, a move towards an all-inclusive

society looks like more and more of a reality (Lovett 2017). Even with these steps, the Boy

Scouts of America still remains a largely segregated organization in regards to gender and

sexuality.

When it comes to joining the Boy Scouts of America, there are only a few rules that are

required to be followed. According to Souting.org, the person in question must be a boy who is

11 years old, or one who has completed the fifth grade or earned the Arrow of Light Award and

is at least 10 years old, but is not yet 18 years old (Scouting.org). Although this has been

amended to read a person who identifies as a boy rather than deemed a boy on their birth

certificate. This clarification came as of January 31, 2017 from the Chief Scout Executive,

Michael Surbaugh during an announcement regarding the gender challenges faced by the

organization. These change come after the loss of a sizeable amount of companies backing the
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scouts pulled their sponsorships when they unanimously retained the policy to ban gay scouts

from joining or being active within the scouts in 2012 (Letisinger 2012/ Liebelson 2013).

With the 2013 repealing of the ban on gay youth and the repeal on adults in 2015

membership has been in a constant state of flux leading to a notable decline in troops, crews, and

packs all around. While the troop does not need to be affiliated with a church or religious

organization, a charter organization is required by the BSA to maintain a troops identity and a

large number of those organizations are religious institutions of some sort. Many religious

organizations, most notably the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or LDS for short, have taken

issue with the policy changes. According to a report by the Utah based Salt Lake Tribune, about

18 percent of the BSAs total membership was registered to an LDS sponsor (Davisdon, 2015).

With the new policy taken into effect earlier this year, the LDS church has announced that they

must revisit their affiliation with the Boy Scouts as a whole. The church has for many years

waivered on their tenure with the BSA always returning to the organization after threats to part

ways. If this time around they do decide to leave over an issue with what scouts are allowed in,

the 18 percent of the youth would be without a program that values building character and

leadership. If so many companies and organizations are willing to remove themselves from a

movement that is taking steps to include everyone, what does it say about those groups?

As a country if we are looking to move towards full inclusion and access, we must

include the LGBTQ community as a whole and not discriminate. With the BSA being such a

large integral part of our country and with the role it plays in so many youth it is only right to

openly admit every person regardless of sexual orientation. The World Organization of Scouting

Movement, or WSOM, has even come out and talked about how scouting should be all inclusive.

The WSOM Secretary General Luc Panissod stated that Scouting is a cross representation of
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society, including all of its diversities (CNN, 2011). In the long run, these kids in all of these

programs will grow up and grow into positions where they are able to touch the lives of other

youth years later. If we instill values of inclusivity while they are young they will be more likely

to continue to live by them and pass them on to their children.

While the Boy Scouts of America has taken steps to ensure LGBTQ inclusivity, a

reoccurring issue over the past few years has been biological girls wanting to become boy scouts.

The majority of scouting movements throughout the world are coed. Only 13 countries of the

164 total national scout organizations that admit boys only while the United States has a boys

only program and then offers a Coed program from ages 14-21. The correlation has been made

between the Girl Scouts of America, but Andrea Archibald, the Chief Girl Expert has stated

they are not meant to be a girl equivalent of the Boy Scouts (Khan 2017). With a program that

promotes character building and leadership, there should be no problem with allowing a girl into

the program, especially if there is already a program set in place for girls to participate. From a

marketing and membership perspective, admitting girls allows you to tap into a previously

untapped population that seems to be champing at the bit to get into your organization. From a

humanities perspective, having youth that are looking to better themselves not only will make

our community stronger, but will also grow a respect for the outdoors. This love of our outdoors

could very well protect funding from being cut further down the line. Currently the most recent

steps to make this change started on April 27th, 2017 and is gathering steam to possibly be the

change needed.

Overall the Boy Scouts of America have taken steps to become more inclusive, but they

seem to be more towards keeping funding rather than bettering the program as a whole. Even the

things that have been done are just baby steps, a prelude to a much larger and more beautiful
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movement taking place worldwide. When Eagle scouts are more or less sworn in they recite a

pledge to continually better the world around them. Not once in the pledge does it use the words

boy scouts, boys, or reference gender at all. Let us use this power to fight for a better world. A

decent world where all people may one day share activities, not to better ourselves, but to better

each other.

I re-affirm my allegiance to the three promises of the Scout Oath. I thoughtfully

recognize and take upon myself the obligations and responsibilities of an Eagle Scout. On my

honor, I will do my best to make my training an example and my status and my influence count

strongly for better Scouting and for better citizenship in my troop, in my community, and in my

contacts with other people. To this I pledge my sacred honor. The Eagle Pledge (eaglescout.org)
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Bibliography
"Scout Oath, Scout Law, And Venturing Motto". Scouting.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 May
2017.
http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/2016BoyScoutRequirements_8.14.2015.pdf
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-664725
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http://www.eaglescout.org/finale/coh/charge.html#Eagle%20Scout%20Pledge
DAVIDSON, LEE. "If Mormons Leave Scouting, BSA Will Feel It -- In Its Wallet". The
Salt Lake Tribune. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 May 2017.
Jones, A. (2015). Boy scouts vote to end ban on gay leaders. The Wall Street Journal
Eastern Edition,
Khan, Yasmeen. "Meet The Teenage Girl Who Wants To Be A Boy Scout". NPR.org. N.p.,
2017. Web. 3 May 2017.
Leitsinger, Miranda (July 17, 2012). "Boy Scouts: We're keeping policy banning gays".
NBC News. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
Lovett, I. (2017). Boy Scouts of America to allow transgender boys to join. The Wall Street
Journal Eastern Edition,
Liebelson, Dana. Boy Scouts Losing Big Funders over Anti-Gay Policy
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/01/boy-scouts-verizon-protest-lgbt
Pynes, J. (2015). The boy scouts of america: Slowly changing. Journal of Homosexuality,
1-20.
Taylor, Scott. "LDS Church Announces It Will Study More Closely Boy Scouts'
Allowance Of Transgender Boys". DeseretNews.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 May 2017.