In a new diversity statement, the local Boy Scouts council says that gay adults shouldn’t be banned as leaders.
But
the council stops short of saying that discrimination is not permitted,
instead leaving the issue up to the leadership of each local Scouting
group.
“The
statement signifies the council’s desire to reflect the diversity of
the communities we serve and to express our desire to be a more
inclusive organization,” said Jen Koma, spokeswoman with the Simon
Kenton Council.
But
at the end of the day, Koma said, it still will be up to the chartering
organizations and parents’ committees for each Scouting group — pack,
troop or crew, for example — to decide whether to approve a leader
application from a gay adult.
The Simon Kenton Council serves about 20,000 youth in 17 counties in central and southern Ohio and one in northern Kentucky.
Koma
said the council started exploring the possibility of creating a
diversity statement two years ago, after the national council of the Boy
Scouts of America voted to allow openly gay youth to be Scouts.
The controversial policy change, which took effect last January, spurred strong reactions.
Some
supporters argued that the policy didn’t go far enough because it left a
ban on gay Scout leaders intact. Others said that the almost
105-year-old youth group had abandoned its core values, with some
churches and religiously affiliated groups dropping their sponsorships.
“It’s
a sensitive topic, and we’ve tried to be sensitive,” Koma said, adding
that the council is still bound by national policies that ban gay adults
from being Scout leaders.
The
group wants to work with other councils “through proper channels” to
ultimately bring about change to the national-membership policy, she
said.
Koma
said the council’s executive board approved the new statement on Sept.
18, but it wasn’t posted to its website until last month. The delay
wasn’t intentional, she said, and a committee is still trying to figure
out how best to spread the word.
She said the national organization knows about the statement, and there are a handful of other councils that have done the same.
But some say the statement is in direct opposition to the national ban on gay adult leaders.
“They
are definitely being defiant,” said John Stemberger, founder of the
OnMyHonor.Net coalition, a Christian group that started as an
alternative when the Boy Scouts began accepting gay Scouts.
The big question is what the national organization will do about it, he said.
“It’s
just sad. The group is compromising its values and beliefs, and parents
are watching and pulling their children out of the program,” he said.
Others applauded the move.
“It’s
a step in the right direction,” said Brian Peffly, who is a troop
leader in Westerville and leads the Simon Kenton Scouts for Equality
chapter.
Peffly,
35, who was introduced to Scouting in the first grade, said he thinks
the council has let local troops decide about the issue on their own for
some time.
As
an example, Peffly said, he openly acknowledged being gay in a WBNS-TV
(Channel 10) report last April, after the Boy Scouts removed another gay
troop leader in Seattle for doing the same thing.
Within
24 hours, he said, the council leader called several of his colleagues
in his Boy Scouts troop, but they were all supportive of him.
“The
story blew over, and a couple of months later I received my membership
in the mail — almost as a silent wink, if you will,” he said.
Not everyone has been as fortunate.
In
mid-2013, the committee chairwoman for a Pickerington pack told a
mother that she had to resign her position in charge of advancement — a
job she says she had been asked to take — because gay people couldn’t
hold leadership positions. The pack also lost the woman’s 10-year-old
son because he didn’t want to belong to a group that wouldn’t accept his
family.
Peffly worries that trouble could come again for him, but he said he can’t sit passively waiting for change.
“My membership could still be in jeopardy, but I have no reason to hide,” he said.
He does, however, have a lot to lose.
“I love Scouting and can’t imagine my life without it.”
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