Why are the Boy Scouts so bigoted while the Girl Scouts are so inclusive?

That would be because the Boy Scouts have maintained a close association with religious organizations (notably the Morman church) and most of their sponsorship money comes from them. The Girl Scouts have a broader and more secular sponsor base (no to mention the whole cookie thing), which has allowed them to take policy stands that piss off the religious ideologues.

Generally, because men are more afraid of men loving other men than women are of women loving other women. Perhaps because men (in general) are less sure of their gender identity, and don’t want to put themselves in positions where they might be tempted.

I also think that @thorninmud is on the right track.

Thank you so much for asking this question. The Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts are two separate organizations. Each has held different goals and rules on who they allow to join.

Girl Scouts stance on diversity. Boy Scouts stance on diversity. The difference between these two groups is that the GS expand upon who is allowed to become a member when new information about lesbians and transexuals come to light. The Boy Scouts have felt the need to change their stance due to pressure.

Thank you for pointing out the glaring dichotomy. Staid organizations with further staid sponsors are notorious for lagging behind the times. It should be no surprise that they are bested by their female counterparts with recent scars from “the sting of the lash”.

The Boy Scouts have a spine to uphold integrity, the Girl Scouts will develop a debase mind to fill the ranks as people pleasers, that is why the Boy Scout (not bigots) are upright, and the Girls Scout…...well….something else….

I noticed on the links that the Girl Scouts was founded based on ideals of inclusion and diversity. The Girl Scouts were never a segregated organization. MLK called them a model for desegregation.

I guess from the beginning, just on the basis of being a woman and therefore a population of people who are discriminated against, the Girl Scouts are about inclusion.

As for the BS: founded by white, Christian, males with money. Ha.

Great links.

I think it’s because the boy scouts are run by men, and men are the most homophobic gender. They must protect their precious penises!

No, penises are like guns. You can’t have two guns in a conflict because one will win and the other will lose. You don’t want to lose.

Too bad boys can’t join the Girls Scouts. If I had a son, there’s no way I’d let him be a Boy Scout and support their exclusionary, narrow-mindedness.

My daughter was a GS for six years. We found it to be a wonderful organization.

Maybe they should become the Child Scouts and include boys in a separate section. They could have coed activities (picnics, sports) once in a while, but keep their separate activities as well.

I’m an eagle scout. I’m proud to have been a part of it and aside from a couple of things I stand behind the organization. It’s made me a better person because it taught me respect for my peers, myself and my elders. I learned self sufficiency, community service, love for nature, civics, and many other skills most will never get in public “education.” If I have ever have a son they’ll be involved for sure. The politics simply don’t play a role in day to day scouting events. The memories I have from it will be with me until my dying day and were some of the best in my life. It’s all about developing and finding yourself.

I have to say (as a former Campfire Girl) that Campfire was inclusive before either was. They accepted boys in the 70’s and have been inclusive of LGBT people for about as long. So buy that candy in Febuary!

@ARE_you_kidding_me And if you have a son who is transgender? Bully for him, I guess.

The Boy Scouts are evolving, albeit slowly. But you may be gay and be a Boy Scout. And the President of the Boy Scouts of America, Robert Gates, has stated that gay leaders need to be permitted. I know of a gay boy who just earned his Eagle this spring.

But the affiliation with churches has slowed the evolution of the organization. Many of the churches that sponsor troops are as prejudiced as @Hypocrisy_Central and take an unenlightened stance that is proscriptive rather than welcoming as Christ told people to be.

It’s tragic that time has slipped past the scouts. But I believe they will come out of this ok. The controversy will resolve itself, though I wonder if the organization is past it’s zenith in appealing to boys. How would one determine the viability of the scouts. Are the rolls expanding or thinning?

@zenvelo [..are as prejudiced as @Hypocrisy_Central…]
You are lucky not to be Pinocchio, or you might have a nose all the way to Florida with those lies.

This is a somewhat long, rambling post about my observations. My overall opinion is that the scouting organizations aren’t really propagators of anti-LGBT sentiments, but that their stances reflect their demographics. Their stances will change as demographics change.

This answer is also primarily based on the BSA’s stance on gays, which has been a very visible topic, not transgenders which was mentioned in the article.

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I have a decent amount of experience with boy scouts (I’m an Eagle scout myself, aged out this past year, and plan on joining as an adult leader).

It’s really important to distinguish between the national and local levels. Different levels have difference sources of funding. For example, individual troops do not receive national funding. Instead, each troop has its own local sponsors. Policy decisions at the national level do not necessary relate to what’s actually taught to scouts.

This is another instance of the “religion is the source of morality” principle. I don’t believe in it, but that’s generally the policy at both levels for distinct reasons:

- National gets a ton of funding from Mormons and other massive church conventions
– Individual troops are usually sponsored/staffed by (often founded by) churches. Usually, a church decides that they want to host a scout group, not the other way around. When a church has a scout unit, they also tend to recruit members from their congregation (because, well, that’s who their audience is).

The BSA’s national policy on gays was based on an internal vote of about 1,400 national council members. The national organization’s stance represents the majority opinion of their demographic group. If you look at the the US as a whole, there are still several age groups that would, in a majority-rule situation, vote against gay rights. It’s really only the youngest generations that are pro-gay-rights overall. I think there’s something like a 10-point difference between men and women, which contributes. Even then, younger men are usually more pro-gay-rights than older women. (Basing this on the stats in this wikipedia article)

I can complain about their policy, but their policy is as I would predict it to be given who’s running it.

In any democratic process, there is a big difference between 49% support and 51% support. As soon as support for gay rights reaches a majority of their leadership, I think the BSA’s policy will change rather dramatically in a short period of time. Younger generations are substantially more in favor of gay rights than their predecessors. As soon as those generations get their hands on the BSA’s leadership, I expect a dramatic change. I believe that their stance on gays will change this generation.

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I guess this next portion of my response is about how much national policy impacts the experience of scouts themselves.

The answer is: generally not as much, but it depends. The BSA has over 100,000 units.

The day-to-day schedule of a scouting unit is determined by its troop leaders. Generally, it’s about camping, merit badges, and planning for camping. If the unit is a good one, then it’s the scouts themselves that decide where they want to go and what activities they want to do.

I’ve been to hundreds of scout meetings, and I have never seen a leader make any opinioned statement about gays to the scout group. It’s just not a topic that comes up. Scouting, as far as I can tell, doesn’t shape children’s opinions on the issue. Parents have an order of magnitude more influence.

Let’s say, however, that the person in question is specifically a gay youth (technically allowed under the organization’s rules, but experience will vary). In this case, you experience will depend quite a lot on the leader’s personal opinion on gay rights. Generally speaking, gays in scouting is only as big of a deal as other people make it out to be (this probably applies to the gay rights movement as a whole). If the leader of the troop is “homophobic” then you should just search for a different troop.

I would also advise checking out the BSA’s venturing program. It’s different than regular boy scouts, focuses more on fun than personal development, but the fact that it accepts both boys and girls means that it will likely be a more tolerant atmosphere for LGBT members.

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Having been thinking about this issue for the past 1 or 2 hours, I’m going to end my response here. I am open for questions about my scouting experience.

@PhiNotPi That mirrors my thoughts and experience to a “T”

..and congratulations on getting your eagle B.T.W.

Today Boy Scouts voted to end ban on gay leadership. I guess they have no morals all of a sudden.~

Well I guess its another one of those double standards that unfortunately exist. They eventually came to their senses after all these years. Just goes to show that anyone can change.