By Jeff Brumley
Boy Scouts of America on May 23 decided it will no longer deny membership on the basis of sexual orientation.
The new policy, which takes effect in January, is already being met with the expected backlash from conservative churches and other religious groups that have vowed to break ties with the organization if homosexuals were welcomed. However, some of the nation’s largest denominations say they will allow congregations to continue their relationships with the Boy Scouts.
Meeting in Grapevine, Texas, about 60 percent of the 1,400 BSA’s Natonal Council delegates voted to approve the measure. However, they did maintain the group’s ban on adult homosexuals.
But that didn’t mollify conservatives.
One of the first to respond was the Family Research Council, which issued a statement the same evening calling the decision “another casualty of moral compromise.”
“Unfortunately,” the online statement continued, “Boy Scout delegates capitulated to the strong-arm tactics and abandoned the timeless values that have served the organization.”
John Stemberger, a conservative evangelical Orlando attorney and Eagle Scout said in a CNN blog that he is now through with Scouting.
“The policy fails to respect or revere the religious beliefs, values and theology of the vast majority of Christian churches, which charter more than 70 percent of all Scouting units,” Stemberger said. “Most important, the new policy robs parents of Boy Scouts, like me, of the sole authority to raise issues of sex and sexuality with their kids.”
Richard Land, head of the Sourthern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told The Christian Post the vote is “a catastrophic decision” for BSA.
“The decision will lead to a mass exodus of traditional, orthodox Christianity from the Boy Scouts,” Land said.
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, told WDRB-TV the vote “normalizes homosexuality” and “fundamentally redefined the organization.”
But some of the Scouts’ largest religious groups are saying they will not abandon the 103-year-old organization.
The Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors about half of all religious BSA charters, issued a statement ahead of the vote calling the proposal one that “constructively addresses” the many social challenges before the BSA.
“We appreciate the positive things contained in this current proposal that will help build and strengthen the moral character and leadership skills of youth as we work together in the future,” the April 25 statement said.
The Denver Post reported that the Catholic Archdiocese there will maintain its relationships with BSA.
The New York Times quoted Matt Comer, a 27-year-old forced out of Scouts at age 14 after starting a Gay-Straight Alliance at his school, saying, “Today we finally have some justice for me and others,” he told The Times. “But gay youths will still be told they are no longer welcome when they turn 18.”
With reporting by Bob Allen.