Times May Change, But Scouting's Ban on Gay Leaders Still Serves an Important Purpose

A recent article here on Patch about the presentation of a petition to the Boy Scouts of America generated considerable comment, most of it in favor of the “inevitable” progress that rescinding the BSA’s historic ban on gay scout leaders would represent. In the article it was noted that sometimes homosexuality and pedophilia are “equated” and that such a view is false. At the risk of being seen as homophobic, I disagree with the view that the BSA should change its policy.

The view that homosexuality and pedophilia are widely separated behavior patterns rests on Kinsey research that claims approximately 10% of the population is homosexual. In his 2006 book Muzzled, radio talk show host Michael Smerconish pointed out that homosexual relationships accounted for only about 1% of the compensation claims filed by partners of victims of the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center. Those claims came from a big-city population in which homosexuals would historically be overrepresented owing to their well-understood tendency to migrate to big cities, where they escape small-town prejudice and find larger populations of like-minded and tolerant individuals. In addition, the pecuniary benefit available to bereaved partners would presumably motivate all but a handful to make claims, if not spur false claims as well. With 3,000 deaths, the sample size is large enough to make the results statistically accurate. If the percentage of homosexuals in the general population is reduced by a factor of ten, the percentage of homosexuals who are pedophiles must likewise have its decimal place moved to the right. Yes, it is inescapable that pedophilia is much more rampant among homosexuals than the accepted statistics would indicate.

From an anecdotal standpoint, I was recently at breakfast with five other men, one of whom was a retired professional who had been a Boy Scout. When the subject of the ban came up, he was quick to recount that during his days of scouting there was a particular cabin at camp that was typically not assigned to any particular troop, being instead used more on a contingency basis. The man proceeded to recount that the leader in charge of it behaved in ways that aroused suspicion. Ultimately, one of the scouts who had seemed particularly close to that leader propositioned my breakfast companion while the two were alone. While not proving that improper sexual situations are widespread in scouting, the man’s view of scouting is forever tarnished by the actions of those individuals.

He would have been a Scout at least ten years before the NYPD’s brutality at Stonewall galvanized the gay rights movement in 1969, at a time when homosexuality was still “the love that dare not speak its name,” not the lust that won’t get out of your face, with nearly every TV drama and sitcom sporting a couple of gay characters, comic book icons being rewritten as gay, and Californian schoolchildren being compelled to observe Harvey Milk Day. With today’s much freer environment, more incidents are bound to happen than occurred during the era when nearly all gays were in the closet. And scouting, where bonds of trust are formed between adult males and young boys is obviously a near-perfect environment in which a pedophile can groom a targeted boy for future molestation.

America is no doubt a better place because homosexuals have attained that tolerance that centuries of immigrants have sought here for their religious beliefs, ethnicities and political views. But their advocacy has begun to push beyond seeking tolerance to demanding celebration. Though none deserve to be bullied or made second-class citizens, the legitimate protection of what can now be seen as the overwhelming majority cannot be abandoned for the sake of allowing such a small minority to participate openly. The fact that only a small percentage of the public are robbers does not persuade jewelry stores to eschew sophisticated alarms and stout safes.

Scouting is very special, and it is a place where parents entrust their sons to be away from home among other men and boys. Removing existing protections can only reduce scouting’s attractiveness to the parents who must balance their children’s needs for the kind of character-building that scouting provides with the kind of damage that can be done by a pedophile. For many parents, not all of whom are bible-thumpers with Old Testament attitudes, a BSA that no longer bans homosexuals might as well merge with NAMBLA and start handing out catamite badges.