The Boy Scouts of America Cave and Earn a Merit Badge in Naïvety

Yesterday, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) voted to lift a century-old ban that prohibited gay and lesbians from participating in one of America’s most popular youth organizations.

However, to avoid taking the policy change a bridge too far, the BSA reached a “compromise” allowing gay youth while continuing the prohibition of openly gay adult leaders.

So a compromise has been reached, voted upon and will be enacted next year. The BSA can go back to business as usual…if only.

True to form, gay and lesbian groups are already planning to contest this policy change which they believe does not go far enough.

I’m so proud of how far we’ve come, but until there’s a place for everyone in Scouting, my work will continue,” said Jennifer Tyrrell, whose ouster as a Cub Scout den leader in Ohio because she is lesbian launched a national protest movement.

In other words the Scouts cave to political pressure, betray the principles enshrined in their Scout oath and Scout law, and alienate thousands of conservative members – the very backbone of their organization – yet the liberal groups are still not satisfied.

Did the BSA honestly expect their acquiescence to appease the loud minority? If so, then they have earned a merit badge in naivety.

Not only has the BSA risked losing the support of their core sponsors, most of which are doctrinally conservative (of the more than 100,000 Scouting units in the U.S., 70 percent are chartered by religious institutions), but they will still undoubtedly face a future replete with continued cries of discrimation as gay troop leaders use the full power of the liberal media to shame the Scouts into allowing their full participation.

If the BSA intended to mollify their critics, they will sadly fail and are, again, naïve.

In an effort to escape the pressure of political correctness, they have marginalized a majority of their members who hold to Scripture and believe the practice of homosexuality is a sin while giving the gay and lesbian community more fuel for the continued battle.

Compromise is not part of the left’s vocabulary, and their efforts to bully a privately-funded organization will only heighten as this so-called “compromise” becomes enacted.

Enjoy the accolades now BSA, because this debate is not going away.

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