Many people were likely carefully checking news sites Wednesday to find out if the Boy Scouts of America were, as suggested, going to vote on whether to lift the organization’s blanket ban on gay Scouts and leaders — and were likely disappointed by yet another delay.
The BSA National Executive Board released a statement Wednesday morning that it needed yet more time to consider a proposal that would allow the local councils to decide whether or not they would continue to discriminate against gays.
The board said that after “careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization,” it concluded it needed more time “for a more deliberate review of its membership policy.”
The board directed its committees to generate more input from Scouting members and then compose a resolution on membership standards, which the 1,400 members of the National Council will vote on at the agency’s national meeting in May.
More time? How many more delays will continue to be acceptable?
In May, will the members vote that they can’t come to a conclusion and need to analyze the policy more?
Action needs to be taken eventually; delaying it further only illustrates that the organization is grasping at straws to balance satisfying the quickly building outcry against the antiquated rule and cadre of conservative religious funders.
If Scouts are supposed to stand for trustworthiness and bravery, it’s way beyond time that Scout leaders stand up for their gay members and risk losing the monetary support of antigay funders for the sake of what’s right.
Hiding behind the guise of assessing member and public opinion isn’t going to work forever. On Monday, opponents of the ban delivered a petition to BSA headquarters signed by 1.4 million people who support allowing service by openly gay members. Numerous members of the National Executive Board — CEOs of companies like AT&T and Ernst & Young — have come out against the antigay policy. And groups like Scouts for Equality, comprised of current and former Eagle Scouts, are actively campaigning to reverse the ban.
So what are they waiting for?
This policy has been in place since 1991 — that’s 22 years in which the BSA leadership has had time to analyze its effects, garner input from members and the public and come up with ways to both retain funding and operate a nondiscriminatory organization.
Putting this decision off any longer only further debilitates the image of this organization — which, while it has done immeasurable good for many people, has a stain that needs to be lifted — and with no more delays.