Most of you have heard of the recent Boy Scouts of America controversy in terms of admitting girls. The BSA failed to explain their decision in a way that told the whole story. Following is an open letter from someone inside the BSA who presents a case as to why no one should be upset.
Dear Friends,
If you read this newsletter on a regular basis, you almost certainly know that I volunteer a tremendous amount of time to the Boy Scouts. As a consequence, I have received at least a dozen inquiries in the last few weeks about the recent decision by the Boy Scouts to allow girls to join the Cub Scouts, and eventually (in 2019) have a program that will allow them to reach Eagle Scout. Am I for it? I am for anything that will help our young people better prepare for life. Joining the Boy Scouts and becoming an Eagle Scout profoundly changed my life, and I have watched the program do that for innumerable young people. I don’t really see the controversy, and here is why:
- The Boy Scouts have included girls in their programs for over 40 years! Exploring went co-ed in the early 1970’s, and the 20-year old Venturing program was co-ed from its inception. The Boy Scout high adventure bases and Jamborees all have girls and women attending.
- Women have been Scoutmasters and other leaders in the Boy Scouts for over 30 years.
- Nearly every other country in the world has co-ed Scouting, including Great Britain, the home of Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting program. The United States is unusual in having separate Boy and Girl Scout organizations.
- The Boy Scouts of America today has what is considered the gold standard of youth protection, the elements of which have been adopted by other youth organizations. This is ingrained by mandatory recurrent youth protection training of all adults, and protects children of both sexes.
- Boy Scout co-ed youth events have been held for many years, and have always had safeguard standards. (As an example, a co-ed youth event must have adult leaders of both sexes.)
- There are many other youth activities that compete for a youngster’s time. Sports, robotics, and music to name a few. And there are many Scouting-type organizations such as Camp Fire, Girl Scouts, Baden-Powell Scouts, Boys and Girls Brigades, Trail Life, and American Heritage Girls.
As in almost every area of our lives, we have more and more choices. There will be girls who prefer the Girl Scouts (my niece earned the Gold Award and loved the Girl Scouts), and there will be those who prefer a different program or activity. (Many people are surprised to discover that my son was not a Boy Scout. We did visit three different Boy Scout troops together, but in the end, he made his choice and pursued his passion in music instead.) So let’s celebrate all the choices that we (and our children) have!
And while we are talking about the Boy Scouts, let me insert a shameless plug for EagleCoach.org, my website for future Eagle Scouts. If you know a Scout aspiring to be an Eagle Scout, this is the place for him (or someday, her) to land. There are many pages of information, tips and downloads to assist them in the process.
Oh, the possibilities!
The author is David Hunt of Hunt Corporate Services a Real Estate practice serving the needs of commercial and industrial properties throughout Long Island. He is a Board Member of the Suffolk County Boy Scouts of America, Silver Beaver Award winner and an Eagle Scout mentor and advisor. David is a lifelong Scout and devotes countless hours to scouting programs and individual scouts.
This article is presented by Greg Demetriou, a Huffington Post Contributor and CEO of Lorraine Gregory Communications a full service marketing and public relations firm. He is also available via his dedicated CEO site GregsCornerOffice.com .