Boy Scouts of America says discussing end to ban on gay members

[LeicsDom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21327656

Brothers Lucien and Pascal Tessier are proud members of the Boy Scouts of America. They are also gay.

[Hard-up1]

The Boy Scouts of America became racially integrated—in 1974. Still hard to believe that it took so long.

That was a final ban from the top, but the BSA had begun integrating long before that. To portray the BSA as some kind of racist holdout is inaccurate to the overall organization.

I was born in 1961, lived in the rural South, and my cub scout and boy scout troops in Arkansas were integrated and long before 1974.

Whereas the BSA can be justly criticized for not disallowing racial segregation until late, it is not the same as encouraging it. Numerous sources correctly credit BSA with encouraging integration earlier than the general population in the segregated areas, and certainly parallel to the civil rights movement of the 60's.

That they are slow to come around on gay rights is valid criticism, but the suggestion that they discouraged racial integration when its time had come is false.

[Laufey]

Even for the US I'm shocked that it's like that over there in 2013.

[Hard-up1]

Even for the US I'm shocked that it's like that over there in 2013.

It's not the future yet.

There are still lots of people on the planet without running water and electricity.

Not a shock that a paramilitary, Christian-oriented boys group is still a locus for conservatism.

[HoodedRat]

Sooner or later all these backward-thinking, religion-based, organizations end up changing to keep up with the modern-day secular world. Hopefully eventually they will catch up.

[Laufey]

It's not the future yet.

There are still lots of people on the planet without running water and electricity.

Not a shock that a paramilitary, Christian-oriented boys group is still a locus for conservatism.

There are other countries though that have boy scouts and never had these type of rules.