The board of Irving-based Boy Scouts of America won't discuss a possible end to its longstanding ban on gays until next week, but the news that it's up for discussion has been condemned as another step in the nation's march toward moral ruin.
The pronouncements, many of which have been chronicled by Right Wing Watch, are a mix of three main arguments: that most child molesters are gay and that gay men are nearly incapable of not molesting children; that gayness will spread like the flu until scouting jamborees are turned into wild homosexual orgies; and that any move to accept gays is a unconscionable cave to the evil homosexual lobby.
Take the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer who, in a column entitled "Jerry Sandusky as the New Poster Boy For Scouting", predicted that BSA's acceptance of gay members is a product of the "malicious, demonic and vitriolic pressure of the homosexual lobby" -- "If Big Gay hammers the Boy Scouts into oblivion, your church is next" he writes -- that "will turn every Boy Scout in America into vulnerable prey for the sexually deviant."
Fischer later warned that the move would create unacceptable levels of "sexual tension" on camping trips.
The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins echoed Fischer's fears when he predicted that lifting the organization's gay ban will somehow cause the Scouts' well-documented sexual abuse problems to get worse, turning even more of America's boys gay.
"With an open door policy it can only get worse," he said. "So that could lead to these experiences and trauma for young boys that could lead them into that lifestyle."
Closer to home, the Texas Freedom Network has compiled some local responses.
The Texas Pastor Council urged members to not "let the 'Bad Guys' win" and to object to the BSA being "bullied by homosexual activism." Another group, Texas values, used similar language, worrying that relaxing the gay ban will undermine the organization's work "building the character of tens of millions of boys in our country."
And let's not forget radio host Mark Davis, who penned a column in the Morning News citing the Boy Scouts as an example of "equality run amok."
Sexual orientation is very relevant in environments that feature communal sleeping, showering and other close-quarters interaction (you know, like the military). A fundamental presumption of Boy Scout life is that no one in the tent is attracted to the same sex. If such attractions are of no concern, bring on the coed tents packed with Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in adjacent sleeping bags. If we're going to have equality, let's have equality!How unfortunate that as a natural extension of gay rights, the prospect of same-sex attraction must now be forced into Boy Scout jamborees.
All this has been prompted by the news that BSA's board will merely be talking about the gay ban. Once can only imagine what will spew forth if it's actually lifted.
