The title, of course, is a nod to the \u201cfireside chats\u201d we had with Victor (I\u2019ll have to tell the story of how Freedom threw him for a loop by all pointing \u201cnorth\u201d correctly). \u00a0The point was synergy: that when we work together, the outcome is greater than the sum of the parts.<\/p>\n
It took me by surprise, but after leaving the BSA, I actually heard about a few other staff members who are LGBT. \u00a0Certainly there were some in the past that I worked with (having worked during two distinct time periods, generations, if you will, of camp staff, as well as for four different reservation directors), but they were all long gone.<\/p>\n
Literally, friends I was working with every day, were also hiding, forced to, or risk losing their job. \u00a0And that\u2019s the most insidious aspect of the discriminatory policy: the profound isolation that LGBT scouts (and adults and staff members) feel.<\/p>\n
Unable to talk to anyone about it, you continue on thinking you\u2019re the only one who is different. \u00a0When that\u2019s not the case. \u00a0I just hope that LGBT youth realize they\u2019re not alone, not nearly as isolated as they think.<\/p>\n
The original discriminatory ban was put in place not due to some archaic reading of the words \u201cmorally straight,\u201d or at least, that\u2019s not the real underlying reason. \u00a0The BSA, like any non-profit, has real, legitimate business concerns.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the nature of the non-profit world, and it makes sense: you have to have money to run an organization. \u00a0Grants and other streams of funding are oftentimes attached to how effective you can prove your organization and previous work has been. \u00a0Again, that\u2019s just how the non-profit world works, across the board.<\/p>\n
And to keep charter partners (and consequently the number of youth in the program, as opposed to having to find new charter partners would not guarantee all the youth moved), the BSA caved to pressure, mostly from the Mormon Church. \u00a0Certainly other large groups, religious and civic, were in support of the ban, and to keep those large percentages of charter partners, the policy was enacted.<\/p>\n
But times change, slowly of course, and now the BSA is faced with the stark reality that it\u2019s not profitable, in terms of money or public opinion, to demonize the LGBT community. \u00a0The majority of Americans support marriage equality and even as we continue to fight for our civil rights (which is a sad, sad fact that any minority has to fight for their own rights), the country has seen that there is no justifiable reason to deny this program to any young person.<\/p>\n
So the new compromise, which again, is a huge step in the right direction and should be celebrated as such, puts the onus of discrimination on the charter partner. \u00a0Hopefully those units that are told to discriminate (by their charter partners) will be few and lose membership, although it will create some interesting interaction at events such as district camporees and the like.<\/p>\n
My only fear is that in those areas of the country, where support for the LGBT community is the lowest, young children won\u2019t have a place they feel welcomed, a place where they can find friends and experience the great outdoors while learning about leadership.<\/p>\n
I think if the proposed change goes into effect, it won\u2019t be long before everyone realizes the sky hasn\u2019t fallen and lakes haven\u2019t begun to boil, I just hope it\u2019s in time to help the kids that really need it.<\/p>\n
Oftentimes the BSA is called a \u201cfamily values\u201d organization. \u00a0A few thoughts:<\/p>\n
First, it\u2019s an outdated and insulting term. \u00a0If you want to imagine the 1950\u2019s Leave it to Beaver as your perfect \u201cfamily,\u201d be my guest, but that romanticized view of America hasn\u2019t existed since, well 1950. \u00a0There are families with two parents, one parent, grandparents, adoptive parents, the list goes on and on (and thinking to my own extended family, we\u2019re pretty well represented, and I bet if you thought of yours, you would see many family structures there as well). \u00a0Who is the BSA, or anyone really, to say that\u2019s not a family. \u00a0True, some structures may be more beneficial, studies have shown that two parent households (of the same or different genders) are more beneficial to children. \u00a0But if there\u2019s love, everyone will make it through, no matter the circumstances.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the LGBT community has a phrase, \u201cfamily of choice.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s one that I\u2019ve seen more and more in mainstream culture and media as well. \u00a0The idea is that while we all have a family, related to us by blood, the ones we choose to surround ourselves with, the ones we love, are our family of choice. \u00a0The two can certainly overlap, but oftentimes, for young LGBT kids, thrown out of their homes, they have to create a new family. \u00a0One that cares for them and supports them, and actually loves them unconditionally. \u00a0That\u2019s real family values.<\/p>\n
And finally, having worked full-time for the BSA for five years, as well as 11 years on camp staff, the image that normally comes to mind when thinking \u201cfamily values,\u201d really does not fit the BSA. \u00a0At camp, you\u2019re outside, dirty, working long, strenuous hours and the need to de-stress, including the fact that the staff is mostly men, is of course going to lead to situations never seen on \u201cLeave it to Beaver.\u201d \u00a0And the office was just like any other, with politics, fights and underhanded tactics (as well as amazing work, fantastic people and great shared goals); non-profits aren\u2019t really so different from the business world, I promise.<\/p>\n
Moving forward, I certainly hope the BSA realizes that the country, and the dollars, are on the side of embracing equality. \u00a0More and more businesses understand that, and I hope it is a lesson soon learned.<\/p>\n
All my best,<\/p>\n
Mike<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The title, of course, is a nod to the \u201cfireside chats\u201d we had with Victor (I\u2019ll have to tell the story of how Freedom threw him for a loop by all pointing \u201cnorth\u201d correctly). \u00a0The point was synergy: that when we work together, the outcome is greater than the sum of the parts. It took me by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-king-of-spades"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelcrane.net\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}