Alpha Phi Omega, the national coed service fraternity, has recently been immersed in
controversy regarding its association with the Boy Scouts of America.
The scouting organization’s denial of membership to gays has caused one member of the Washington University chapter, Jay Shah, to quit in protest of the affiliation.
The Boy Scouts of America, a founding organization of APO, won a Supreme Court case last year that allowed them to continue their ban of gays in scouting. This decision had immediate consequences for APO on a national and local level.
Senior Jean Kung, president of APO, said that at APO’s national conference last December there was a great deal of discussion over whether to disaffiliate from the Boy Scouts.
According to Kung, the WU chapter is united against the Boy Scouts’ decision on homosexuality, but disagrees on an appropriate response.
“If you were to look at our chapter, I think 80 percent would be very against what the Boy Scouts say publicly,” said Kung. “The other 20 percent want to keep the Boy Scouts in our history and recognize that they are one of the founders of this organization.”
Shah, a senior frustrated by APO’s national refusal to dissociate with the Boy Scouts, quit the organization in objection. A vice president of service for APO, Shah made his decision to leave the organization when members proposed a merit badge program with the Boy Scouts.
“I think working with the Boy Scouts is anti-productive to APO’s goal,” Shah said. “We can help kids through so many different avenues, and we need to send a message to the Boy Scouts that we’re not going to be involved with their organization until they change their ways.”
Some members of APO wanted to work with young Boy Scouts to teach them about acceptance, but Shah argued that this method wouldn’t work.
Shah said that homophobia is not considered as harmful as racism.
“We would never say that about an organization that was prejudiced against African Americans,” Shah said. “Gay bashing just isn’t seen the same as black bashing, but I regard them as the same.”
Shah said he couldn’t reconcile his disagreements with the Boy Scouts and APO. He left the fraternity to pursue volunteering options elsewhere.
No other members have indicated a desire to quit because of the Boy Scout affiliation.
At WU, any connection between the Boy Scouts and APO is weak at most. The WU chapter of APO has consistently voted down projects involving the Boy Scouts for the past three years. Disagreement has centered on whether to still help the kids in scouting or to condemn the entire organization.
“A lot of the other members wanted to teach [the Boy Scouts], maybe show them an example-you know, get them when they’re young,” Kung said. “Right now our stance is ambiguous, but we’ve never really done any service projects with them recently.”
Some members of WU’s APO chapter worry that a continuing affiliation with the Boy Scouts-though weak at the moment-will reflect badly on the
fraternity.
“We’ve chosen not to do anything with the Boy Scouts in general, and our opposition towards them is based on their stance on homosexuality,” said sophomore member Nathalie de vos Burchant. “People in our chapter are pretty opposed to collaborating with the Boy Scouts.”
Other members said that the already weak affiliation with the Boy Scouts leaves few students interested in maintaining a relationship with them at all.
“People really are cautious to support the Boy Scouts because they’re afraid of supporting their ideology. A lot of the members in APO don’t understand the Boy Scout connection,” senior Joe Sheehan, an APO member, said. “No one joined APO because they were in Boy Scouts and wanted to continue in
college.”
A national requirement for APO is that each chapter have a Boy Scout leader as an adviser. This year, however, that requirement was broadened to include any “scouting adviser,” such as a representative from The Boys and Girls Club or Girl Scouts.
Contact Rachel Streitfeld at [email protected]