Last week’s vote by the Boy Scouts of America to allow gay youth into the organization doesn’t impress Adam E. Gersh.
“It doesn’t cut any mustard,” said Gersh, 38, who recently started an alternate Scout organization in Cherry Hill, N.J.
Gersh is a straight ally of the LGBT community who wants his three young boys to treat everyone with integrity and respect, he said.
So last year, he formed the non-discriminatory Pioneer Scout Corps, and about 20 families have joined, he said.
The ages of youth participants range from 5-11.
Activities include hiking, camping, rock climbing, electric-car racing, disc golfing, swimming, attending a Phillies game, touring a local police station, participating in a corn maze and community-service projects.
Gersh said the May 23 vote by the BSA’s national council to accept gay youth beginning Jan. 1 doesn’t go far enough.
“They’re bending a little, but they’re really not doing it in the right spirit,” he said. “Gay adults and atheists will continue to be banned. So it’s a half-hearted change, made under pressure.”
Gersh said Pioneer Scout Corps welcomes everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
“The only people who aren’t welcome are jerks,” he said.
Gersh, who’s an attorney with the Center City law firm Flaster Greenberg, said he expects Pioneer Scout Corps will be a permanent fixture in Cherry Hill, regardless of how accepting traditional Scouting becomes.
He pointed to the Scouts’ long history of discrimination, and noted happily that his group doesn’t carry that baggage.
He also said participants of Pioneer Scout Corps get along very well with each other and the larger community.
“I don’t see an exodus of members from our group to the Scouts under any circumstances,” Gersh added.
Palma M. Rasmussen, a frequent critic of the Scouts, also wasn’t impressed with BSA’s policy change.
“The BSA is sending a message that LGBT adults cannot be good citizens or good parents,” Rasmussen said. “It’s outrageous to not allow LGBT parents to participate in their children’s Scouting activities. The Scouts are keeping out healthy adults, while sexual predators who are largely straight-identified continue to molest youth participants.”
She said the new policy will be damaging to LGBT families.
“What will happen when children ask their parents to come with them on a Scouting event?” she posed. “Will the parents be told no if they’re LGBT? What will happen if a child asks his mom or dad to be a Scout leader for his unit? Will the BSA say no if they’re LGBT? That could be devastating to a child. Leave it to the BSA to create an atmosphere of hate and exclusion. This is not what Scouting was supposed to be. Shame on the BSA.”
Next month, the BSA Cradle of Liberty Council will vacate a city-owned facility in Center City, ending a five-year legal fight waged by the council to remain there rent-free.
Rasmussen said the move is long overdue.
She also renewed her call for the Nutter administration to evict a BSA troop that’s been occupying a city-owned facility in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia since 1987, while paying a nominal rent of $1 per year.
