Organization will become Scouting America after decades of turmoil and flagging membership numbers
Archived version: https://archive.ph/duDar
I think any organization that gets kids outdoors, teaches them social skills, builds self-esteem, and promotes community involvement is one worth praising. Too bad that the BSoA instead focused on hating the gays and raping boys. Maybe, just maybe, a name change is just a sign of some larger restructuring of the organization.
I think any organization that gets kids outdoors, teaches them social skills, builds self-esteem, and promotes community involvement is one worth praising.
I was in Girl Scouts for years. And although as an adult I can criticize plenty of GS policies, the things you list were always the priority of the scouting experience.
My much younger brother was in Boy Scouts and comparatively, they were weird. It had this whole religious and quasi-military aspect that was off-putting. There were uniform inspections and drills at the monthly family events. And there were mandatory church/temple activities that were required to advance to the next stage. Although technically you could attend a church or event of your choosing - in practice we were the only Protestant family in our community so they just chucked him in with the Catholics. That was mixture of confusing and educational.
My experience gave me community service, camaraderie, and a deep dive on cookie selling strategies. I can still tie a mean bowline. My brother got some weird indoctrination and one fun memory of winning the pinewood derby. They didn’t even do that much camping.
That’s definitely down to the individual troop. The troop I was in required nothing like that. The most religious part to it for my troop was the fact that we met in the basement of a church (it was their daycare area, so not all “basement-y”
Huh. I wonder if you’re younger than my brother (he was born 1979). He definitely had to do some weird things to get out of Webelos.
Yeah we just went camping and sold wreaths lol
Boy scouts always traditionally had a strong component that was preparing boys to enter basic military training. The camping in the woods part was never just for fun-it’s getting a start on land navigation, and basic patrolling skills.
Of course, every troop emphasizes different things, but “off-putting quasi-military aspects” are not at all off-brand for the boy scouts.
That’ll fix the problem!
It might.
Finally making the seismic shifts it needs to in order to modernize - from welcoming LGBTQ+ members and Scout leaders to no longer being boys-only - while finally facing the scandals the have plagued it for decades, BSA, now Scouting America, might finally be ready to move forward.
Only time will tell, though.
Yeah I really hope it can improve. It has a lot of bad shit, but the fundamental concept of getting kids outdoors and doing shit as well as teaching them to take responsibility for their part in their society is all really good
Were you ever a scout?
Yeah
I made it to Boy Scout Silver arrow. How far did you get?
I just liked the getting away from my shitty family, getting outdoors, and learning new ways I could connect with the world around me. I never had any problems myself.
My own lgbtq journey was… unrelated to my time in the Scouts.
Not far at all lol. I got to like star and dropped out because I only really liked the camping and my father didn’t like that I wasn’t trying to do more right around the time my dysphoria was kicking into extreme depression. Though since I’ve grown up I’ve slept with far more Eagle Scouts than most lesbians.
The only issues I really faced were the toxic masculinity that permeated a small portion of it and me having my ass kicked from time to time.
And yeah it was unrelated to my understanding of my queerness. Well except in certain ways. It impacted how I carry myself in the queer community. Especially giving me a tendency to lead when nobody else will.
He’ll back when I was in we were mad they were kicking out gay people and I had met the girls in other countries’ scouting orgs and was pissed at the fact that girls couldn’t join us.
What are we scouting for lads?
New sexual abuse victims, of course.
Their supervision program, to encourage adults to never be alone with a kid, was called Two Deep Supervision. Two deep.
