Friday, April 27, 2012

Lesbian Pack Leader Kicked Out of Boy Scouts


Recently the Girl Scouts dealt gracefully with the issue of a transgender girl joining a troop.  While they said they will determine membership on a case by case basis, the default position is that they will be inclusive and give all girls the opportunity to take part in scouting.  They allowed the girl to remain and they stood by their decision against the expected whirlwind of faux controversy.

The Boy Scouts, on the other hand, just kicked a lesbian den mother out solely because of her sexual orientation.

The other parents are not happy about it.
The first-graders in Ohio Pack 109's Tiger Scouts didn't know or care their den mother was a lesbian - at least not until the Boy Scouts of America threw her out over the organization's ban on gays. 
Now, parents who were aware of Jennifer Tyrrell's sexual orientation well before she took the boys on campouts and helped them carve race cars for the annual Pinewood Derby have rallied to her defense in a case that has re-ignited the debate over the Scouts' policy.
The Boy Scouts of America, whose oath calls for members to be "morally straight," maintains that as a private organization it has the right to exclude gays and atheists from its ranks.
That stance was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 but has led many state and local governments to deny support for the Scouts.
Male scout leaders who are gay have long been barred, but instances of women being excluded are not well-documented.
Tyrrell said she only reluctantly allowed her 7-year-old son Cruz Burns to join the Scouts in Bridgeport, where she lives with her partner and their four children. Told by the local cub master that it didn't matter that she is a lesbian, she was drafted to lead the pack in September. 
Tyrrell told parents at their first meeting about her sexual orientation. Some already knew her because she had coached youth baseball and volunteered at school, organizing class parties and reading to children.
"She wasn't trying to hide anything," said Rob Dunn, whose son is among the dozen or so members of the boys-only pack. "Nobody I know of has ever made a single complaint against her."    Scout parents rally around ousted pack leader
There are two questions here.  One is whether the Boy Scouts should be allowed to do this, and the other is whether it is the right thing to do.  It appears that the courts have ruled that anti-gay discrimination is permissible, I suppose someone could take it to court but at this time it is a legal thing to do.  But what in the world do the Boy Scouts gain by being jerks about this?  What message does this send to the boys in the pack?  It doesn't make anything better in any way.  It appears that these kinds of decisions will only make the Boy Scouts a thing of the past.

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ohio mom Jennifer Tyrrell removed from Boy Scouts for being gay #glaadawards

April 27, 2012 3:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lesbian kicked out of boy scouts?

where's the like button?

April 27, 2012 5:51 PM  
Anonymous David S. Fishback said...

In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000), the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that the state of New Jersey could not require the Boy Scouts to reinstate a gay assistant scout master because the Boy Scouts were able to show that an integral part of their "free expression" was opposition to homosexuality. You can read the decision and the dissents at http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-699.ZS.html

So, under current law, it appears that the Boy Scouts could legally throw out Ms. Tyrrell. What is legal and what is wise or just is not always the same thing.

April 27, 2012 6:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

David, part of the boy scouts' mission includes a commitment to worshipping God

it's not unwise to give that aspect of their mission precedence over not offending gay agendists

if gays want to form an agnostic that embraces a sexual deviance tolerance, they are free to but I doubt they get many members

April 28, 2012 3:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

April 28, 2012 3:16 AM  
Anonymous David S. Fishback said...

Once again, Anon seems to have no heart. We are not talking about "activists." We are simply taking about real people, living real lives.

April 28, 2012 7:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tens of thousands peacefully protest hatred

Children of the Rainbow
by Lillebjørn Nilsen

A sky full of stars.
Blue sea as far as you can see.
A land where flowers grow.
Could you want more?
Together we will live
every sister and every brother.
Small children of the rainbow
and a flourishing world.

Some believe there is no point.
Others waste their time with talk.
Some believe that we can live on
plastic and synthetic foods.
And some steal from the young,
who are sent out to fight.
Some steal from the many
who will come after us.

Refrain:
Say it to all the children!
And tell every father and mother.
We still have a chance
to share our hope for this world.

Thousand sing Breivik song Children of the Rainbow Oslo Norway

April 28, 2012 8:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thanks for the snoozefest !!

April 29, 2012 8:09 PM  
Blogger Orin Ryssman said...

Much like my older daughter's two third grade teachers (a lesbian couple teaching in adjoining classrooms), Jennifer is to be thanked and congratulated. Is it narrow-minded of the Boy Scouts? Perhaps...then again, just perhaps BSA understands better that a free society is only free to the extent that private organizations can make and enforce their own rules and regulations.

Don't like the rules of the BSA? Ok, then start your own organization and compete rather than attempting to use the great Leviathan State to force your POV.

May 02, 2012 12:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Or the United States could insist that discrimination is illegal because we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal and have equal rights.

Or maybe a good Christian organization would insist that we do unto others as we would have others do unto us.

May 02, 2012 8:04 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home