Inclusive Scouting

A reader has taken the initiative to create a map of inclusive Scouting – they write: Though we may not always agree on the policy, we can always agree that more youth in Scouting is a good thing. So for parents, youth, and volunteers that haven’t considered Scouting in the past because of inclusivity concerns, we’ve created this resource. I hope you find it useful. This effort undertaken by volunteer Scouters to map Scouting units that welcome LGBT Scouts and adults is a resource for families, Scouts and potential volunteers looking for Packs, Troops, and Crews who choose to select inclusive adult leadership....

From The Scout Association (UK) website: The Scout Association (TSA) has launched an additional alternative version to the core Scout Promise in order to officially welcome atheists into the Movement. Following an extensive 10-month consultation process within and outside of the Movement, TSA has introduced an additional alternative version of the Scout Promise that can be taken by those without a faith for the first time in its 106-year history. Alternative versions of the Scout Promise have been available for nearly 50 years and have been used by Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and those who live in the UK but are not UK citizens....

The BSA has recently released their initial implementation resources addressing the change to membership standards voted on at this year’s annual meeting. Membership Standards Implementation Resources Upon approval of the membership standards resolution in May of 2013, the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America began reviewing its policies and guidelines through the combined leadership of volunteers and professionals. The resources here are designed to help our unit leaders continue to deliver the Scouting program to all youth....

The Boy Scouts of America Statement: “For 103 years, the Boy Scouts of America has been a part of the fabric of this nation, with a focus on working together to deliver the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. “Based on growing input from within the Scouting family, the BSA leadership chose to conduct an additional review of the organization’s long-standing membership policy and its impact on Scouting’s mission....

National Executive Wayne Brock’s message on the policy resolution; Anticipation and emotions are high as we prepare for the membership standards vote this week. Regardless of which way the vote goes, the important question for each of us is, where will we stand after the ballots are counted? To help provide some perspective, I’d like to share a letter from Ray Capp, chairman of the National Order of the Arrow Committee....

After it’s founding Scouting quickly and spontaneously spread around the world. Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of this burgeoning worldwide movement, would look back at those years and recall*: Scouting was not a year old before other countries had formed their branches. In twenty-one short years the Scout and Guide training has spread to forty-two different countries about the world, and has proved its potentiality as a factor in world peace....

On April 19 the B.S.A. released the Membership Standards Study Initiative Executive Summary and the Membership Standards Resolution to be voted on in our May national meeting. Like many people on both sides of the question my first impression of the membership standards resolution was disappointment and frustration. (My opinion of the question of inclusion is explained here). As someone who supports inclusiveness I was disappointed that the resolution did not end the policy of excluding adults based on sexual orientation but I was heartened to see that the resolution removed the ban for youth members....

This statement concerning the BSA membership policy decision was released today from the Executive Board (Link): For 103 years, the Boy Scouts of America has been a part of the fabric of this nation, providing it’s youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. In the past two weeks, Scouting has received an outpouring of feedback from the American public. It reinforces how deeply people care about Scouting and how passionate they are about the organization....

Are BSA membership policies about to change? No doubt you’ve heard about or read the following statement from the Boy Scouts of America: Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 Attributable to: Deron Smith, Director of Public Relations “For more than 100 years, Scouting’s focus has been on working together to deliver the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. Scouting has always been in an ongoing dialogue with the Scouting family to determine what is in the best interest of the organization and the young people we serve....

To stay afloat organizations , like ships on the ocean, are designed to be reasonably impenetrable and inflexible. Safety and stability is important to ships and organizations but that same safety and stability create drag when it comes to evolution and change. This drag is commensurate with the size and scope of the organization. The bigger the ship the longer it takes to turn. The ocean of culture in is wider, deeper, more fluid and changeable than the organizational ships that travel over them....

These are divisive times. We are in the midst of a hotly contested presidential election and the Boy Scouts of America is working through major controversies over past practices in reporting child abuse and challenges to excluding gay leaders (and now apparently) Scouts. These are touchy issues to write about here but I have been asked if I would offer my thoughts because the airways are full of stories and folks are feeling unsettled....

Let’s build a “membership standards” Scouting checkpoint at the gate of our scout camp. Adult leaders can gain entrance only after they pass inspection on their adherence to the scout oath and law to enter. This way we can be sure to exclude atheists, the divorced, smokers, drug users, alcoholics, tax cheats, people who are overweight, adulterers, fornicators, the envious, homosexuals,the lustful, the prideful, the gluttonous, the dishonest, and the slothful....