Open enriching experience to all

By Zach Wahls

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The Boy Scouts of America recently affirmed its anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) policy. As both an Eagle Scout and the son of a lesbian couple, I refuse to stand idly by as an organization I love forfeits both the principles for which it stands and its cultural relevancy at the very moment this country needs it most.

For more than a century, the Boy Scouts of America has been this nation's foremost service and leadership development program for young men. Parents have trusted the BSA to instill in their sons the skills, values and life lessons required to both lead and serve our fellow Americans, and prepare them to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

Today, gays and lesbians serve our country (and its youth) as ministers, teachers, camp counselors and physicians, and in its national defense, but they cannot enroll in the Boy Scouts or serve as scout leaders, even in troops in which their own sons participate. Exclusion of gays and lesbian adults from being leaders is an injustice, but imagine the quiet harm this discriminatory policy has on the Scouts themselves, whether gay or straight.

By telling its young members that it is right - a morally appropriate policy - to exclude people based solely on their sexual orientation, regardless of their abilities and contributions, the BSA is showing its young people that it is OK to put one set of beliefs above another.

It is time for scouting to change.

President Ronald Reagan once reminded us of the Shining City on the Hill - a testament to that last great bastion of hope and freedom. For decades, the BSA has contributed to that radiance, but with the continued exclusion of LGBT Americans, the BSA darkens the light of those who would gladly serve their communities and country.

If the Boy Scouts of America wishes to uphold its policy of religious diversity and spirituality, it ought also recognize that the belief of homosexuality as an immoral characteristic is not a universal religious belief. As a person of faith, I will not yield this point. In fact, I can think of only one such universal sentiment, and it's one the BSA knows well: Do unto others as you wish done unto yourself.

Years ago, when I told my moms, Jackie and Terry, that I wanted to join the Cub Scouts, they agreed to give it a shot. Even though they were met, initially, with skepticism and doubt, they went on to become two of the most revered members of our pack's leadership. By having face-to-face conversations and getting to know my parents on a personal, meaningful level, the other parents in my pack realized that my moms were more like them, than different. They weren't advancing a “gay agenda,” nor were they distractions, troublemakers or any less moral than any other parent. My moms just wanted a rewarding and enriching experience for their son.

It's really that simple.

When I was earning my Citizenship in the Community merit badge, I learned the importance of standing up for what you believe to be right, which is why we've started Scouts for Equality - www.scoutsforequality.org. We're inviting current and former members of the scouting community to share their stories about how the BSA's discriminatory policy has affected them.

We hope to provide those working from within the BSA the resources they need to see that if it wishes to maintain its position of moral leadership, its path forward is clear: end its discriminatory policy.

Zach Wahls is a native of Iowa City who earned the Boy Scouts rank of Eagle Scout. Comments: zach.wahls@gmail.com