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surfnturf wrote:Tried Junior Lifeguards in lieu of Boy Scouts. Made it all of a week... bad choice in hindsight. Became a juevenile delinquent instead. Good times

From what I remember, I spent most of Cub Scouts in "timeout" because I spent most of my time trying to pick up the girl scouts... I bought a lot of cookies...

Our Scout troop met across the street from the Girl Scouts on the same night. Across the street in the other direction was a wooded lot. That might have a lot to do with why I enjoyed Scouts so much...

thigbee wrote:Honestly, I hated scouts. It was too rigid and organized and fake.

That's why I couldn't keep either of my kids interested. Today's kids see through things that we used to swallow.

truchas wrote:It's sad that liberal activists are out to destroy the Scouts nowadays. I hope they survive.

I'm sure liberal activists will survive.

Life's more complicated than stereotypes:
Again (1) I was an Eagle Scout and had a great experience; (2) I tried to get my kids involved but failed; and (3) think that Scouting's policy on gays is misguided and hurts the organization. On point (3), it's made me volunteer elsewhere, though if my kids had enjoyed it (see 2) I would have stuck with it.

Clarification: Most Scouts and Scoutleaders I personally know in Los Angeles would welcome any gay members.

The Supreme Court thing was about "Openly Gay Adult Scout Leaders".

The BSA only adopted the ruling because the vast majority of Troops in the USA are franchised to the Mormon Church and The Unitied Methodist Church. I have nothing personal against these groups but there is your source on the "Gay" thing in Scouting.

Its funny that some think that it's a liberal thing that is against Scouting. It's actually religious conservatives who can't tell a gay man from a gay boy from an openly gay man from a pervert.

I believe it's actually just a mis-defined policy to keep perverts & pedophiles away from young boys. Note that the BSA has a much better record than the Catholic Church.

I have encountered several non openly gay men in Scouting. Good leaders. Thanks for the good work and help.

Openly hetrosexual men would be just as annoying have around. Talking about sex with women in front of the boys all the time sets a bad example.

So when are the openly gay men going to start a youth program? How about athiests? You'd get a ton of support.

So volunteer or quit complaining if you don't like it.

And now, back to the excellent kudos and reminiscing about the good side of Scouting.

squishy wrote:

truchas wrote:
It's sad that liberal activists are out to destroy the Scouts nowadays. I hope they survive.

What?

They are destroying themselves with throw back policies which are more common place in the Muslim world...

Seems like they are turning the organization into a religious club...turning good people away because they are ghey or atheist...they deserve all the criticism they get, and I was a proud boy scout once as well...

I have toyed with the idea of volunteering many times, but every time I am reminded of the following truths and really wish there were other organizations for the rest of the people who don't fit their mold...

They need to evolve or lose all federal funding, it's obviously an organization which does not believe in our countries founding principals...

Scout’s discriminate against women, gays, and atheists, yet they receive federal funding for their activities. Federal funding should stop. Let the Scout’s fend for themselves.

Why am I anti Boy Scouts? I am an atheist and therefore cannot be a scout leader. My ten year old son is interested in joining; only I would have to lie to participate. I am not going to lie, so no scouts for my son. Since I don’t want to subject my son to potential child molesters or religious conversion, I will not let him go it alone. In thinking deeper on the subject, I find myself asking, why do I pay taxes to support this organization? It is excluding members based on not having faith, yet virtually every other religion on the planet is in the Scouts. It seems like a clear cut case of discrimination. The federal government should not fund bodies that discriminate against people based on their (lack of) religion. It is time to cut the Boy Scouts loose, let them find funding from churches and corporate America. Perhaps Congress can fund an organization that is open to all Americans.

Yes, it's too bad that a religious boy's club won't accept girls and atheists. I'm sure my son would have been first in line to attend Girl Scout camp a couple years ago, but you don't hear people whining about them not allowing boys. And I should be the next Pope.

BTW, the last troop I volunteered with had an openly atheistic troop leader. Nobody except for one mother cared, including the local council. They defended him as leader when the mother complained. He understood that he was part of a religious organization, so he didn't preach or criticize so it didn't affect anyone.

mconnell wrote:BTW, the last troop I volunteered with had an openly atheistic troop leader. Nobody except for one mother cared, including the local council. They defended him as leader when the mother complained. He understood that he was part of a religious organization, so he didn't preach or criticize so it didn't affect anyone.

It's wonderful how flexible and respectful of one another people can be when they're not in a leadership position.

Reminds me of teaching Sunday school in a Catholic church even though I'm not Catholic. Everyone was cool.

Anyway, I'd love to see Scouting change with the times in a good way. I think they took a wrong turn on activities when they tried to be 'relevant' to urban kids. The point is to show kids something outside the city, not to be relevant *in* the city.

Having the whole organization follow a policy designed to keep the Mormon region happy, if that's what they're doing, is another bad decision. By all means let the Mormon troops do their thing but let the rest of us do ours.

Also, Scouting does not receive federal funding in any formal way. Your tax dollars do not go to the Boy Scouts of America. Except perhaps for trail maintenance supplies when we fix up trails on public lands.

In the past some politicians cozied up to Scouting by putting up some quarters as in the case of the San Diego Council. I see this as past political "baby kissing" in order to garner more votes by being seen as friendly to a popular group. Once the Supreme Court shit came down the line Scouting was kicked out of some public schools and other government supported places. Some politicos may have had better intentions but it is not right for the government to support private groups with tax dollars.

The United Way was a significant supporter of Scouting and they pulled their funds for the most part. The new charity: Friends of Scouting was launched to cover the shortfall and has been doing pretty well.

Some day the outdoor industry will wake up to the potential gold mine that Scouting creates for them. Many outdoor retailers do support Scouting with discounts but you have to ask.

I was always active in the outdoors as a kid, but I started becomming more focused when I joined the cub scouts. My Boy Scout leader really honed our outdoor skills with builing fires, compass use, backpacking and hiking. We did many winter camp out-outs also. Unfortunately, when I was about 22 I found out that he had been convicted of being a child molester. Although I never saw any indication that he was inappropriate with the scouts.

redneck wrote:So as some in this thread have suggested, I am starting a new youth hiking group in my community. We had our first meeting last night. All girls. Apparently it's harder to get boys to get out into the mountains to enjoy the wilderness.

I'm also doing things to get youths into the wild. The key audience is people who have always wanted to experience camping/hiking/climbing/whatever but did not have any friends, families or youth groups to serve them. So you can have a real impact by providing that key experience.

Like your group, redneck, mine have been disproportionately female. Also, the women are more likely to be minority than the community as a whole, but the men less likely.

My working guesses to explain the patterns:
1) Scouting still reaches some guys; Girl Scouts don't get them outdoors.
2) Having outdoor dads is key, but dad & son are more likely to go outdoors than dad & daughter.
3) Guys don't want to admit they lack outdoor skills but gals don't mind being novices.
4) Urban African-American men are really hard to reach for lots of reasons, but see these good people: http://www.bigcitymountaineers.org/

I love scouting and it is because of it that I love the outdoors. Much of who I am today is because of my experience as a scout. I'm grateful for the leadership skills and moral standards I learned there. Currently I get to give back to scouting by serving as a Scoutmaster for a troop.

I'm currently on a Scout committee (Outdoors activity) in my area.


I'm also a Woodbadge Alumni ! GO EAGLES !!