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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In time, being a member of the Boy Scouts will be viewed similarly to being in the KKK a few decades ago. Pan average person could do it for purely social reasons, but the organization has a backwards and discriminatory bent.  Your kids will be marked. [/quote]

Nah. As long as it's a place for socially awkward boys to go there will be a demand for it. Parents want their kids to fit in more than they want to make a statement.[/quote]

Yeah.  Neil Armstrong, President Ford, Justice Breyer, Robert Gates were all socially awkward.  [/quote]

[b]I see more SN boys in Scouting than in any other single activity. There is some structure and always a slew of parents attending events. All parents are expected to be authority figures so in theory there is better management of a group of kids. Of course, typically the den meetings and pack meetings are nothing short of chaos with brief stretches of organized activity. For having a place where their kid is accepted more easily than, for example, in a traditional sport, I doubt these parents are going to make a political stand. They play the "the national policies don't filter down to our pack/den level so we're OK with [/b]it" card.

What ARE you trying to say?  I've read your post three times.  Yes, some packs have SN kids.  Shockingly, some schools even have them.  My God, there may even be some SN kids living right on your own street.  Honestly. . .

There are even packs set up FOR SN kids only.

At the Cub Scout level, the meetings are chaotic but adults are in charge.  By the time you get into high school you most likely will be in a boy-lead troop meaning the Senior Patrol Leader, a high school student, is in charge of setting up and running the meeting himself.  The young men are, by then, all well-behaved.  They have helped each other in the Eagle scouts and everyone makes an attempt to attend every Eagle ceremony and dinner after.  It has been a wonderful experience for our DS, from cub years thru starting Eagle project now.  What "political stand" are you talking about?  BSA now allows gay boy scouts in.  Has the issue ever been discussed in our troop or amongst parents?  No.  is the troop open to a gay scout.  Yes.  So what's your beef about scouting.  It has completely changed my son's life.

So I don't think BS is going anywhere.[/quote][/quote]

My post was in response to the person who suggested the BS would be akin to the KKK, a shrinking and shameful organization. That isn't so, IMO. There are too many boys who start Cubs and Weebs, even with the membership fall off at Boy Scouts for the organization to disappear.

One reason for the strong numbers, especially in the younger grades, is parents looking for a place for their quirky sons to fit in while being surrounding by involved parents. No shame in that. But what I also touched on was the fact that parents will downplay the Scouts position on homosexuality and inclusion of a higher power. Yes, gay Scouts are allowed into the organization,[b] but as soon as they graduate out of the program they are not allowed to be leaders or officially involved with the boys. How is that tolerant? "Hey, Eagle Scout, you have been deeply involved in this organization for most of your life, but you're really not the type of person we want around the boys now that you are a gay MAN."[/b]

How is that not an offputting stance for those who support gay equality? So those who report to be outraged by gay discrimination but keep their boys in Scouts because "it's not like that in OUR pack" are putting their child's needs before making a stand. I'm not criticizing, I'd do the same, but it is what it is.[/quote]

It's called legal liability my dear.  Do you want your son in a pup tent alone with an older gay man?  Even if nothing happens, the boy could accuse the Scout Leader.  BSA has wrestled with this for years but because camping is such a big component of scouting, BSA can't figure out a way to ensure that all the boys are safe in camping situations.  Did you know that a Boy Scout father-leader cannot be put in a tent with a boy other than his son?  Again, it's liability.  One one camping trip my DH had to go sleep in his car because the only available tents had boys other than his son in them.  That's not allowed.  BSA leaders have to go through serious on-site training.[/quote]

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