NOTE: The printed version of this story was not the final draft submitted by the author; the original printed article is included below. Student Life apologizes for the error.

Dear National Council of the Boy Scouts of America:

Next week, at the bi-annual Boy Scouts National Board meeting, you will have to make the most important decision your organization has faced in years. You will have to take a vote on a proposed motion to end your decades-long ban on gay scouts and scoutmasters. This is not a decision to take lightly, as it will greatly affect the future of the Boy Scouts of America. Rising public pressure, loss of corporate sponsorships, and changing times have forced the issue of gay Boy Scouts into the national spotlight, and you cannot ignore it anymore. As a supporter of the Boy Scouts and gay rights, I urge you to lift the nationwide ban and allow gay scouts and scoutmasters.

The nation’s views on gay rights have changed dramatically in the past few decades. The majority of Americans now support gay marriage and equal employment opportunities regardless of sexual orientation. Youth organizations with discriminatory policies, like the Boy Scouts, are now in the minority. In several very public cases over the past few months, potential Eagle Scouts have been denied their awards, and scoutmasters have been removed from their troops, for being gay. Dozens of petitions totaling hundreds of thousands of signatures have been created demanding that the Boy Scouts reconsider its discriminatory policies. Today’s youth are firmly in support of gay rights – most polls indicate that over 60% of 18-29 year olds support gay marriage. And today’s youth are tomorrow’s parents, parents who may not be okay with their children participating in an organization that blatantly denies equal treatment to young people based on sexual orientation. If the Boy Scouts are to remain a prominent youth organization, the national board must do the right thing and lift the national ban on homosexual Boy Scouts and troop leaders.

If public pressure is not enough to convince you, then perhaps money is. Some of the Boy Scouts’ biggest and most loyal donor corporations, such as UPS, Intel, Verizon, and even the United Way have pledged to stop funding the Scouts until the ban on gay members is lifted. Many Boy Scout regional councils receive almost 50% of their income from United Way donations. The Boy Scouts of America has always been dedicated to giving opportunities to boys regardless of socioeconomic status, so national dues are extremely low. This means the organization is almost entirely dependent on private and corporate donors. If the Boy Scouts wants to continue running great programs like high adventure trips and affordable summer camps, it has to have a consistent stream of revenue from donations. Continuing to speak about against the LGBT community is alienating a lot of potential donors and hurting the stability of the Boy Scouts organization in the long run.

I have always been an avid supporter of the Boy Scouts, but I will be the first to say that the national policy banning LGBT youth from being involved in Boy Scouts has to go. The central tenet of scouting is teaching confidence and self-reliance. Telling a fourteen-year-old kid that he has to hide who he really is from the world in order to be accepted is a terrible way to inspire confidence. Many “old-school” leaders in the Boy Scouts administration argue that allowing gay scouts and scoutmasters would be going against the scouting principle of being morally straight, which some have defined as heterosexual. However, I would argue that forcing gay Boy Scouts, who most likely joined scouting as ten-year-olds with no conceptions of their own sexuality, to hide their identities is a violation of a much more important part of the Boy Scout Law: bravery.

Boy Scouts Board of Directors, please consider my points made above as you deliberate over this decision that could make or break your organization’s future. I hate to sound cliché, but it’s 2013 – times are changing, and it’s time for the Boy Scouts to change, too. The American people support gay Boy Scouts. Barack Obama supports gay Boy Scouts. Mitt Romney supports gay Boy Scouts and has since 1994. Boy Scouts Board of Directors, you were brave back in 1912 when you became one of the first major youth organizations to allow African-Americans to join. Please, for the good of thousands of kids and for the future of scouting, be brave once again, and lift the national ban on gay scouts and scoutmasters.

Sincerely,
Will Wilder, Eagle Scout

PRINTED ARTICLE:

Dear Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors:

Next week, at the bi-annual Boy Scouts national board meeting, you will have to make the most important decision your organization has faced in years. You will have to take a vote on a proposed motion to end your decades-long ban on gay scouts and scoutmasters. This is not a decision to take lightly as it will greatly affect the future of the Boy Scouts of America. Rising public pressure, loss of corporate sponsorships and changing times have forced the issue of gay Boy Scouts into the national spotlight, and you cannot ignore it anymore. As an Eagle Scout who is a supporter of both Boy Scouts and gay rights, I urge you to lift the nationwide ban and allow gay scouts and scoutmasters.

The nation’s views on gay rights have changed dramatically in the past few decades. The majority of Americans now support gay marriage and equal employment opportunities regardless of sexual orientation. Youth organizations with discriminatory policies, like the Boy Scouts, are now in the minority. In several very public cases over the past few months, potential Eagle Scouts have been denied their awards and scoutmasters have been removed from their troops for being gay. Dozens of petitions totaling hundreds of thousands of signatures have been created demanding that the Boy Scouts reconsider their discriminatory policies. Today’s youth are firmly in support of gay rights—most polls indicate that more than 60 percent of 18-29 year olds support gay marriage. And today’s youth are tomorrow’s parents—parents who may not be OK with their children participating in an organization that blatantly denies equal treatment to young people based on sexual orientation. If the Boy Scouts are to remain a prominent youth organization, the national board must do the right thing and lift the national ban on homosexual Boy Scouts.

If public pressure is not enough to convince you, then perhaps money is. Some of the Boy Scouts’ biggest and most loyal donor corporations, such as UPS, Intel, Verizon and even the United Way have pledged to stop funding the Scouts until the ban on gay members is lifted. The Boy Scouts of America have always been dedicated to giving opportunities to boys regardless of socioeconomic status, so national dues are extremely low. This means the organization is almost entirely dependent on private and corporate donors. If the Boy Scouts want to continue running great programs like high-adventure trips and affordable summer camps, they have to have a consistent stream of revenue from donations. Continuing to speak about against the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community is going to alienate potential donors and hurt the stability of the organization in the long run.

I have been involved in Boy Scouts in one way or another since I was seven years old. I will put Eagle Scout on every resume I fill out for the rest of my life, but I will be the first to say that the national policy banning LGBT youth from being involved in Boy Scouts has to go. The central tenet of scouting is teaching confidence and self-reliance. Telling a 14-year-old kid that he has to hide who he really is from the world in order to be accepted is not exactly a great way to inspire confidence. Many old-school, traditional leaders in the Boy Scouts administration argue that allowing gay scouts and scoutmasters would be going against the scouting principle of being morally straight. However, I would argue that forcing gay Boy Scouts, who most likely joined scouting as 10-year-olds with no conceptions of their own sexuality, to hide their identities is a violation of a much more important part of the Boy Scout Law: bravery.

Boy Scouts Board of Directors, please consider my points as you deliberate over this decision that could make or break your organization’s future. I hate to sound cliche, but it’s 2013—times are changing, and it’s time for the Boy Scouts to change, too. The American people support gay Boy Scouts. Barack Obama supports gay Boy Scouts. Mitt Romney supports gay Boy Scouts and has since 1994. Boy Scouts Board of Directors, you were brave back in 1912 when you became one of the first major youth organizations to allow African-Americans to join. Please, for the good of thousands of kids and for the future of scouting, be brave once again and lift the national ban on gay scouts and scoutmasters.

Sincerely,

Will Wilder, Eagle Scout