Well, it's done.
Motion passed with 61% of votes in favor.
To be honest, this wasn't a result I was anywhere near expecting. I was expecting either for the organization to maintain its current policies or to officially empower troops to accept or reject openly gay applicants at their discretion (I had discounted on account of the internal political climate the possibility of BSA completely removing its policy on homosexuals).
It's worth mentioning that the policy change applies only to youth applicants; adult volunteers will continue to be processed according to the currently existing policy.
After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, [...]
The Scouts' longstanding ban on gay adults remains in force, [...]
[...]
Tessier is on track to receive his Eagle Scout award — he only needs to complete his final project — but said he is troubled that on his 18th birthday he could transform from someone holding Scouting's highest rank to someone unfit to be a part of the organization.
...This is a bit of a troublesome combination. The combination of these two things seems to convey the message that openly gay individuals are fit to be Scouts (and even earn their Eagles) but are nevertheless unfit to serve their troops as adult leaders even if they achieve the rank of Eagle scout. It seems... contradictory, to say the least.
I am dead against the change, Homosexually, and other form of sexually immorality fornication was incompatible to scouting ideals.
The policy on homosexuals has been quite controversial within the BSA, and various points of the Scout Oath and Law are cited by both those who seek to change the policy as well as those who seek to keep it as it stands. Those who favor the current policy oftentimes cite Duty to God (when the religion they subscribe to takes a position against homosexuality) and the "morally straight" section of Duty to Self (when homosexuality itself is perceived to be immoral) in their arguments to preserve the policy. I expect that there are probably a number of other common bases for arguments, but as someone with an opposing position and only a very small exposure to the discussion on the topic, I am not presently aware of them.
Having said that, there are also points of the Scout Oath and Law that support the removal of BSA's policy on homosexuality. Points that I personally consider as being in support of this include Duty to Others as well as Trustworthy, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, and Brave. BSA's current policy on homosexuality is similar to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that the military used to operate under; it disallows those who are openly gay from participating but makes no effort to seek out and oust those in the gay closet. Closeted gay Scouts are told to be Trustworthy and Brave, but at the same time, they're told that they'll be kicked out of Scouting if they're ever honest about their sexual orientation. Straight Scouts are told to be Friendly, Courteous, Kind, and to help other people at all times, but at the same time, they're told that it's okay to exclude others solely on the basis of how they experience attraction (by Scouting's current policy, a gay orientation by itself is grounds for exclusion, regardless of whether the person in question partook in adult activities or relationships). In some troops, Scouts are even taught that it's okay to malevolently antagonize others on this basis. In my eyes, keeping the policy disallowing homosexuals would contradict Scouting's ideals.
As supplementary material, I link to
this in depth analysis of the points of the Scout Law. It's completely agnostic with respect to the topic of homosexuality (the page doesn't even mention the subject once). I link it because I think it may be of interest to those who read this thread, including those already familiar with the Scout Oath and Law (the material is exceptionally insightful).
