The Boy Scouts Disappoint, Again

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The Boy Scouts Disappoint, Again

“You’ve got to stand for some­thing or you’ll fall for anything.”

– Aaron Tippin

“How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
Four. Call­ing a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”

– Abra­ham Lincoln

Well, it finally hap­pened. After more than 100 years of stand­ing on the prin­ci­ples of teach­ing boys and young men to do their duty to God and our coun­try, and to keep them­selves “morally straight,” in just four short years, the Boy Scouts of Amer­ica has com­pletely betrayed those prin­ci­ples and caved to the ridicu­lous demands of homo­sex­ual and trans­gen­der minori­ties. After fight­ing all the way to the Supreme Court in the 2000 BSA v. Dale case to affirm their right to exclude homo­sex­u­als from their mem­ber­ship, and reaf­firm­ing that pol­icy as recently as 2012, the BSA decided in 2013 to allow homo­sex­ual boys to join. And when one of those boys became an adult, the BSA, as pre­dicted, in 2015 decided to allow homo­sex­ual adults to be troop lead­ers. Now, the BSA has decided to let girls join the Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts used to be a spe­cial orga­ni­za­tion to me. My son started as a Tiger Cub in first grade and con­sid­ered quit­ting after that first year because he didn’t like the Den Leader. Hav­ing been a Scout myself, I knew the pos­i­tive influ­ence Scout­ing could have for my son, so I asked if he would con­tinue if I were to be the Den Leader. And so began an 11-​year jour­ney through Scout­ing that my son and I were able to share together. We shared a lot of mem­o­ries on week­end cam­pouts, Sum­mer camp and High Adven­ture trips together, and his jour­ney to Eagle Scout and Senior Patrol Leader helped him to become an out­stand­ing leader and a man of prin­ci­ple. But the moments I really trea­sure were being able to see him inter­act with his peers in unguarded moments and see him grow into a young man who is self-​confident, com­pas­sion­ate and fun to be around. Through Scout­ing, my son learned many things about how to han­dle dif­fer­ent sit­u­a­tions, how to lead, and yes, how to be mas­cu­line – more than I could have taught him on my own. We both know that he would not be the man he is today with­out his expe­ri­ence as a Boy Scout.

And I am so glad he made it through the pro­gram before all this lunacy began.

To think that a girl can be a Boy Scout is just insane. With all due respect to the BSA lead­er­ship, any­one who thinks this is a good idea sim­ply has no idea what it’s like to be a Boy Scout.

These boys spend a huge amount of time together and, even with adult lead­ers around, spend much of that time by them­selves. And there are many sit­u­a­tions where the boys bond in a way that would sim­ply not be pos­si­ble with girls around. And yes, there are times when the boys get changed or shower in front of each other. On our trip to the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mex­ico a few years ago, the com­mu­nal shower after sum­mit­ting Mt. Baldy was an end­less source of laugh­ter for the boys. It was a clas­sic “boys will be boys” moment and one that sim­ply can­not be shared by a girl no mat­ter what gen­der she claims to be. There are count­less other sit­u­a­tions where a boy sim­ply can­not let his guard down like that in front of a girl, even if he accepts that she thinks she’s a boy. And to ask boys to sac­ri­fice that inno­cence to accom­mo­date someone’s delu­sion is self­ish and a betrayal of some of the best parts of the Scout­ing experience.

My son and I will always trea­sure our time in the Boy Scouts. But if I am blessed with grand­sons, I’m going to sug­gest that they join Trail Life USA instead.

“You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

– Aaron Tippin

“How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Well, it finally happened. After more than 100 years of standing on the principles of teaching boys and young men to do their duty to God and our country, and to keep themselves “morally straight,” in just four short years, the Boy Scouts of America has completely betrayed those principles and caved to the ridiculous demands of homosexual and transgender minorities. After fighting all the way to the Supreme Court in the 2000 BSA v. Dale case to affirm their right to exclude homosexuals from their membership, and reaffirming that policy as recently as 2012, the BSA decided in 2013 to allow homosexual boys to join. And when one of those boys became an adult, the BSA, as predicted, in 2015 decided to allow homosexual adults to be troop leaders. Now, the BSA has decided to let girls join the Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts used to be a special organization to me. My son started as a Tiger Cub in first grade and considered quitting after that first year because he didn’t like the Den Leader. Having been a Scout myself, I knew the positive influence Scouting could have for my son, so I asked if he would continue if I were to be the Den Leader. And so began an 11-year journey through Scouting that my son and I were able to share together. We shared a lot of memories on weekend campouts, Summer camp and High Adventure trips together, and his journey to Eagle Scout and Senior Patrol Leader helped him to become an outstanding leader and a man of principle. But the moments I really treasure were being able to see him interact with his peers in unguarded moments and see him grow into a young man who is self-confident, compassionate and fun to be around. Through Scouting, my son learned many things about how to handle different situations, how to lead, and yes, how to be masculine – more than I could have taught him on my own. We both know that he would not be the man he is today without his experience as a Boy Scout.

And I am so glad he made it through the program before all this lunacy began.

To think that a girl can be a Boy Scout is just insane. With all due respect to the BSA leadership, anyone who thinks this is a good idea simply has no idea what it’s like to be a Boy Scout.

These boys spend a huge amount of time together and, even with adult leaders around, spend much of that time by themselves. And there are many situations where the boys bond in a way that would simply not be possible with girls around. And yes, there are times when the boys get changed or shower in front of each other. On our trip to the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico a few years ago, the communal shower after summitting Mt. Baldy was an endless source of laughter for the boys. It was a classic “boys will be boys” moment and one that simply cannot be shared by a girl no matter what gender she claims to be. There are countless other situations where a boy simply cannot let his guard down like that in front of a girl, even if he accepts that she thinks she’s a boy. And to ask boys to sacrifice that innocence to accommodate someone’s delusion is selfish and a betrayal of some of the best parts of the Scouting experience.

My son and I will always treasure our time in the Boy Scouts. But if I am blessed with grandsons, I’m going to suggest that they join Trail Life USA instead.