{"id":531,"date":"2014-04-23T09:11:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T15:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/04\/not-going-to-end-well-the-latest-on-the-boy-scouts.html"},"modified":"2016-11-07T09:33:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T15:33:24","slug":"not-going-to-end-well-the-latest-on-the-boy-scouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/04\/not-going-to-end-well-the-latest-on-the-boy-scouts.html","title":{"rendered":"Not going to end well. . . the latest on the Boy Scouts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
This is the CNN.com report: \u201cBoy Scouts revoke Seattle church\u2019s charter over gay scoutmaster<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0The report describes a scout troop whose charter was revoked because the troop and its sponsoring organization, a Methodist church in Seattle, insisted on keeping its openly gay scoutmaster. \u00a0The details in the CNN article are a bit sketchy, since it gives the impression that the scouts have a \u201cdon\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u201d policy, so I hunted a little more, and found more detail in this NBC piece, \u201c\u2018Extremely Disappointing\u2019: Scouts Boot Openly Gay Troop Leader<\/a>.\u201d<\/div>\n

The story here still isn\u2019t entirely clear, but it seems to be the case that the scuttled scoutmaster was not simply \u201ca leader who happened to be gay\u201d but much more than that: \u00a0the article says,<\/p>\n

[BSA executive Sharon] Moulds said she found out [Geoff] McGrath was gay only after NBC News contacted her. \u201cIt was then that we became aware of his intentions to make a public statement about his orientation and use our program as a means to further a personal agenda,\u201d she wrote in an email.
. . .
McGrath said starting the unit was not a publicity stunt but a bid to serve youth and rejoin the contentious discussion around gay and lesbian adult membership. \u201cIf you don\u2019t participate, you\u2019re not part of the conversation,\u201d McGrath, a 49-year-old software engineer, said in an exclusive interview. \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYelling from the outside is not conversing. So we\u2019re on the inside doing good work. Talking about the gay and lesbian issue is not the biggest part of what we do\u2014it\u2019s the smallest part.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even here, the chronology isn\u2019t clear. \u00a0Did McGrath actively seek publicity? \u00a0Well, \u201cyes,\u201d in the sense that the church made a point of telling every boy\u2019s family that he\u2019s gay. \u00a0But did he seek to publicize the situation outside the troop? \u00a0Or did NBC News hear about this from someone else? <\/p>\n

And when he said he wants to be \u201cpart of the conversation\u201d \u2014 what did he mean? \u00a0Actively protesting? \u00a0Or seeking to demonstrate, over the long-term, that a gay man can be a good leader to young boys? \u00a0And the church itself, which extended the invitation to McGrath \u2014 was he \u201cinnocently\u201d the best man for the job, or did they, too, want to make a point of pushing the issue with a gay scoutmaster?<\/p>\n

It worries me. \u00a0There just doesn\u2019t seem to be a good outcome here.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: \u00a0So I looked up the Rainer Beach Methodist Church, and I now think it\u2019s highly likely that they established the gay-scoutmaster scout-troop with an aim to challenge the no-gay-leaders policy. \u00a0Here\u2019s their website: \u00a0http:\/\/rainierbeachumc.org\/<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and the pastor\u2019s biography describes her, first and foremost, as an activist, with the two most prominent features of her resume her service as chaplain to Planned Parenthood and her gay\/lesbian activism. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the CNN.com report: \u201cBoy Scouts revoke Seattle church\u2019s charter over gay scoutmaster.\u201d \u00a0The report describes a scout troop whose charter was revoked because the troop and its sponsoring organization, a Methodist church in Seattle, insisted on keeping its openly gay scoutmaster. \u00a0The details in the CNN article are a bit sketchy, since it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[490],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boy-scouts"],"yoast_head":"\nNot going to end well. . . the latest on the Boy Scouts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is the CNN.com report: "Boy Scouts revoke Seattle church's charter over gay scoutmaster."  The report describes a scout troop whose charter was\" \/>\n<meta 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