“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today’s vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board. In spite of a request to delay the vote, it was scheduled at a time in July when members of the Church’s governing councils are out of their offices and do not meet. When the leadership of the Church resumes its regular schedule of meetings in August, the century-long association with Scouting will need to be examined. The Church has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation. However, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.
As a global organization with members in 170 countries, the Church has long been evaluating the limitations that fully one-half of its youth face where Scouting is not available. Those worldwide needs combined with this vote by the BSA National Executive Board will be carefully reviewed by the leaders of the Church in the weeks ahead.”This statement is obnoxious on so many levels. First and foremost it is an affront to LDS gays and lesbians who continue to be marginalized within their faith. But, for the sake of efficiency, I'll confine my sarcasm to (feminist that I am) the part that pissed me off the most:
"As a global organization with members in 170 countries, the Church has long been evaluating the limitations that fully one-half of its youth face where Scouting is not available."
Pssst - Brethren, just for the record (and not that you care) but half of your "youth" are actually...
GIRLS!
I admit this poorly chosen wording probably doesn't reflect the Brethren's intent. Most likely it's the work of some underpaid sexist ding-a-ling in church PR. Nevertheless, there is a Freudian resonance to it. If by "youth" the Mormons mean "boys" one must assume that, in similar church statements, by "adults" they mean "men."
And why not? When a Mormon girl turns twelve, she goes straight from Primary to a boring, grown-up regimen of marriage and motherhood. Then, when she finally grows up and gets married, she's relegated back to the standing she enjoyed in Primary. I understand that nowadays, girls as young as 8 are required to attend mind-numbingly boring "women's" conferences, making the Mormon female's experience bizarrely backwards - robbed of her childhood as a girl, robbed of her adulthood as a woman.
But, back to the "limitations of fully one-half of (LDS) youth."
At least, up until now, the boys got to have fun.
LDS scout troops are notorious for being unenthusiastic and poorly run. But at least they've had the fallback of the BSA's established rules and requirements, as well as their great camps and jamborees. Back in the early/mid 1990's, our son ended up in one of the better LDS troops, thanks to some competent leaders, including his dad. Our son loved scouting, so much so that he and his dad continued to attend troop activities even after we'd quit attending the LDS Church. When I think back to the good things about my life as a Mormon, two things come to mind: 1. Meeting my husband, Mark. 2. Our son's scouting experience.
A few years ago I paid a visit to my son and his wife in Austin, bringing along some of his childhood possessions. By far, his favorite was his old scout sash. He spent the better part of an evening identifying all of the badges and recalling the memories surrounding them. But later he lamented that, if he were to have his own son, he couldn't, in good conscience, allow him to participate in the BSA - because of the organization's policy banning gays.
I am happy for the BSA switch in policy and I'm happy for the dedicated gay scout leaders who may now openly serve in the organization. Also, I'm happy for my son and my little 11 month-old grandson who may someday carry on the family tradition of scouting - in a troop that welcomes gay leaders.
But I'm sad for Mormon boys. If the LDS Church is serious about dropping out of the BSA, whatever program they put in its place is bound to be an unenthusiastic, poorly run, mind-numbingly boring grown-up regimen - leaving what is left of the church "youth" without any youth after all.
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Interesting that they're taking this finger-shaking approach (how dare you make a decision when we weren't available to dictate it to you, BSA!) when they know they will be exempt from the ruling and free to discriminate to their hearts' content.
ReplyDeleteBut -- they might have to go to a camp or a jamboree with a scout leader who is gay! Eeeek! What if he's, like, right in the next campsite? Oh, Nooooes!
I think that's the issue, Marion. They don't want the boys "exposed" to a gay leader, and in most parts of the country the higher ups most likely won't be Mormon. - Which has probably been an issue to begin with. But now they might be non-Mormon AND gay!!
DeleteYes, I was taken with the whiny claim that they weren't in on the vote because the BSA wouldn't work around their vacations. But then when I read the part about "half their youth" referring only to boys I had to go with that.
Too much material. Too little space. lol
What they've done for girls has been so woefully lacking all along, but at least the boys gort something worthwhile to put on a resume if they attained the rank of eagle scout. whatever they put in its placee will matter to Mormons only, but they'll be too stupid to realize it and will still bodly post it on their resumes as if anyone cares.
ReplyDeleteSpouse Dave said he thought the LDS Church had a program modeled after the Explorer Program for older youth that was coed.
ReplyDeleteAlexis - You're right. College counselors advise applicants to leave off most extracurricular activities unless they are genuinely important. The Eagle Scout is always listed in the category of important. My son put his Eagle on his applications, and in his personal essay for Oberlin College, of which he is now an alum, he wrote in part about his scouting experience. Whatever the Mormons come up with won't be considered important, except at places like BYU and BYU-I.
ReplyDeleteMarion, the only coed youth programs that I'm aware of are dances, mixers and youth conferences (weekend long dances and mixers.) Haven't heard of this, but I wouldn't be surprised if such a thing existed at one time. Interesting.
Marion, you may be thinking of the Venturing program sponsored by the Boy Scouts. I've seen older girls at weeklong camps every time I go. I just Googled it. Venturing is actually for boys and girls age 14-20. The church doesn't start the boys into that program until they're 16, and of course, they exclude girls from participation.
DeleteThanks for the info! I didn't know about this. So the boys can't participate until 16 - which is coincidentally (or not) the dating age for Mormons. But if that's the reasoning, and they don't let LDS girls participate, does that mean the boys might have to date/mix with nonmember girls?!
DeleteThe rules are just so confusing!
Maybe they will make their own version of the Scouts with more specific LDS indoctrination. Wouldn't that be fun?
ReplyDeleteIn talking with people over the last few years and also the last few days since this announcement, it's surprising how many people in the church have not supported the prophets in their support of scouting. They hate scouting. If/when scouting is dropped by the church, and I actually believe it will be, those same people will probably be the first ones to stand up in testimony meeting to bear testimony of the decision and to now throw their support behind the prophet. Many of those people just want to see Duty to God expanded to include more scouting type stuff. Yuk! When will the leaders of the church realize they don't need more indoctrination time? They need more truth.
DeleteThe problem with LDS scouting is that it's mandatory, not a choice like it is in other churches that sponsor troops. Our son enjoyed it and was lucky enough to get leaders who enjoyed it as well - not that any of these leaders had a choice. They were called to the positions.
DeleteI think the church will drop scouting too, NK, and put something extremely yucky in its place - attendance mandatory, of course.
If the church ever decides to publish it's doctrine again, after the McConkie "Mormon Doctrine" debacle, they need to remember to include "the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church." It will be part of the "Doctrine of Discrimination," which historically included all black people, still includes females of all ages from creation through eternity, and includes people with disabilities who, along with blacks and people born in poor countries, were born that way because of not being valiant in the pre-existence. (Yes, that was a teaching of Mormon Prophet Harold B. Lee. http://www.mormoninfographics.com/2014/07/decisions-for-successful-living.html).
ReplyDeleteThis quote is not just misleading but is a lie: "The Church has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation." No they did not. The only gay boys welcomed into all BSA troops were those who didn't come out of the closet. The BSA did not allow openly gay boys into troops until January 2014.
Jono, I think that's exactly what they will do. It will be about indoctrination and preparation for serving missions with an occasional campout thrown in for good measure.
ReplyDeleteNearKolobite - How right you are. I noticed that line/lie about welcoming gay boys too. It reminds me of how they've managed to deny polygamy or racial discrimination. Good point about people with disabilities - I'd forgotten about that. Perhaps a new version of Mormon Doctrine is in order!
It wasn't until I was married and we had our amazing little girl, that I realized how poorly females are treated in the church. (Yes, I'm embarrassed to say the indoctrination worked in me that long.) The church created Activity Days for young, Cubs Scout aged girls. They only get to meet twice a month and mostly make crafts and stuff like that. Half the time it gets canceled, so they end up maybe meeting monthly. A lot of times, they take the summer off, which is when the girls need activities. For a couple of years, our ward took the girls to an actual cub scout day camp, but they stopped doing it. Apparently $15-20 a girl is too expensive even though they spend more than that per boy on just awards, belt loops, and pins.
ReplyDeleteI can guarantee you one thing, though, if they model the new boy program after the young women's program, they will need to openly bring back polygamy, because most of the boys who go now will stop going altogether.
Well, if that's the case, then I hope they do model the new program after the YW. Maybe everyone will stop going. :)
DeleteMy guess is whatever this crummy new program is, it will at least be more fun and better funded than the YW program. Because, after all, it's for boys...
Oh, and don't be embarrassed, NK. We were all indoctrinated!
Here's hoping LDS Inc. votes to leave the BSA. It will demonstrate just how arrogant and shortsighted the corporate cult is. I mean what kind of backwards patriarchal oppressive cult is less progressive and accepting than the BSA?! "Oh, that would be the Mormon Church."
ReplyDeleteAwesomeness.
The BSA gave them every opportunity to continue to discriminate! Even the Catholics were satisfied. The Mormons do take it to a new level/depth.
Delete"...it was scheduled at a time in July when members of the Church’s governing councils are out of their offices and do not meet."
ReplyDeleteNews flash: Boy Scouts of America does not answer to the LDS. Stay in your lane.
"However, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America."
How!? How is ending a discriminatory policy at odds with anyone's religious beliefs? Ridiculous.
Exactly Ahab. And the thing is the BSA still allows religious organizations to discriminate in their own troops.
DeleteThis is very much like their stand against gay marriage. They're not satisfied with just banning gay marriages in their own temples, it has to be banned everywhere so that everyone can conform to their belief.
Isn't forcing people to conform to your beliefs "Satan's plan?" Just sayin'!
DeleteGood point, Anonymous.
DeleteI wanted to be a campfire girl when i was 9. My mom siad we were too busy. the only reason I really wanted to be acampfire girl was because of their yummy mints they sell annually. My parents never let us sell anything. They always just buy the minimum amount we had to sell of whatever it was. so that would have meant ten boxes of Campfire Girl mints would have made their way into our house each year. bummer.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the main reason they don't want Mormon boys hanging around "openly gay leaders" is the old "it might rub off" idiocy. The fact that they still think it's a "choice" and not how a person is born is completely antiquated. Naturally, they would prefer boys with those "tendencies" to stay closeted (and miserable) their entire lives, just as long as they adhere to Mormonism.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I one of those "missiles" put out by the Mormon Church I cringe. The narrow views and the wording are always so ridiculous. So glad I'm not listening to that stupidity on a regular basis anymore!!
I know. When I was still going to church and the bishop would announce that he was going to read a letter from the Brethren, I felt sick with anticipation. Sort of like when I was watching TV and an announcer said, "We interrupt your regularly scheduled program..."
DeleteWhatever the church puts in place, it will be something specifically set up to groom these boys for their mission. All the fun and adventure will be taken out, and it will become a spiritual preparation outline. That will bore the kids to death.
ReplyDeleteThe point you make about "half the youth" being girls is excellent. My daughter is a Girl Scout. I have always found it odd that even in a highly populated LDS area, there are few LDS girls in Girl Scouting. It's interesting how Mormons have such a hard time thinking for themselves. Since the church doesn't sanction Girl Scouts, there's no interest in it from LDS families, yet their boys are all scouters, but their daughters are not. Even though Girl Scouts have a high success rate in all areas of life. But unless it's a church program, they just don't seem to be interested.
I'm glad your son had great experiences in Scouts, you are lucky, usually you get someone who has no interest in their calling as a scout leader and the boys suffer because of it.
Good point about the GS. Before we quit going our kids did more extra-curricular activities than most LDS kids. Of course, that meant they had to miss some of the gazillion Mormon activities they were expected to participate in, which, of course, marginalized them.
DeleteOther than school and the BSA, Mormon kids pretty much just have church. Now they may cut out the BSA. I've wondered from time to time if they'd like to cut out school too - if they could get away with it.