34
September 2012
dissoi logoi dissoi logoi: from the Greek; “arguing both sides of an issue.” This is a new feature of Voices’ opinion section. If you have ideas for future themes, e-mail oped@voicesweb.org
Support by Mike Hill Practically everybody feels bad for Tim Griffin, a camp worker for the Boy Scouts of America who was recently fired and believes it's because he's gay. An Eagle Scout, he'd devoted years to scouting, earning high accolades, and then got the boot for showing up to work with “dress code” violations. Those violations apparently included painted fingernails, earrings and other hallmarks of gay culture. But there's no reason not to believe the Boy Scouts when they say it's a dress code issue rather than an issue of sexual orientation, because despite popular belief to the contrary, the Scouts have no ban on homosexuals. What they have, instead, is a ban on people who “avow” or openly pursue homosexuality, which is a big difference, a “don't ask, don't tell” policy quite similar to the one our military employed until recently. The Scouts accepted Griffin for years, both as a member and an employee, until he refused to adhere to their dress code. Why is the distinction between being fired for being gay and being fired for dressing “gay” important? It's the difference between night and day. Griffin wasn't fired for his homosexuality, an unalterable fact of his existence that is not of his choosing, but for his wardrobe, which certainly is. To the Scouts, this is not a technicality, but rather strikes at the core of the Boy Scouts of America's mission: To turn young boys with certain qualities into young men with those qualities enhanced. High among those qualities is “reverence” toward the divine. The Scouts do not specify worship of the Judeo-
Christian God – any religion counts – but it's clear the BSA's creators had Biblical values in mind. Members, leaders or employees who openly flout those values directly undermine the Scouts' mission to build young men whose characters have absorbed these values, values that do not include gender-inappropriate dress. Yes, there's a number of judgment calls in the phrase “inappropriate dress,” but as a values-based organization, the Scouts have those judgments hard-wired into their constitution. Their very mission
Rebuttal by William Saas Let’s start by reciting the motto for the Boy Scouts of America: “A scout is: Trustworthy - Loyal Helpful - Friendly - Courteous - Kind Obedient - Cheerful - Thrifty - Brave Clean - Reverent.” Admirable traits, all. And we would all be much better off if even a few of us routinely aspired to at least two of those
Issue: Boy Scouts of America policy on employee sexuality
demands that they adhere to those values, to create the kind of men they wish to see in the world. This right, freedom of association, is enshrined in the Bill of Rights and is important to all of us who belong to private clubs, whether we're Scouts, Shriners or members of GLAAD. We must be able to keep out those who would undermine the values of our organizations in order to ensure their health and sincerity of purpose. We would not force the Shriners to accept a member who spoke out against philanthropy, and we certainly would not expect GLAAD to continue employing a member who became openly antigay. By forcing the BSA to accept out-ofthe-closet gays, we would be perpetrating the very offense against the Scouts that so many have accused the Scouts of enacting against Tim Griffin. We'd be giving them second-class rights, and we'd be doing it expressly because the BSA has values that many of us disagree with.
adjectives, let alone the whole lot. Perhaps, though, in keeping with its policy on employee/participant sexuality, the BSA should now append “fearful” and “ignorant” to its motto. It seems clear to me, at least, that the BSA’s keep-it-in-the-closet policy on homosexuality is informed by a few generations-worth of fear-driven ignorance, thinly veiled behind clumsy arguments for traditional Judeo-Christian moral values. Let’s take a closer look at the logic behind the anti-gay BSA policy. Why keep gays out? Any sensible Christian will tell you that the apparently anti-homosexual bits in the Old Testament (looking at you, Leviticus) are more like gaudy antiques than sterling laws, so the “biblical” basis can be immediately thrown out. Perhaps, then, the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” is modeled, like much else in the BSA’s modus operandi, after US military codes of conduct. With due props to POTUS Obama, however, this justification no longer holds water. So, then, what is it?
I submit that ignorance, of the feardriven variety, is the culprit here. But what fears drive this persistent ignorance in BSA leadership? I can identify at least three (don’t hesitate to add your own, those playing at home!): (1) Fear of influence: The ridiculous idea that a homosexual scout or scoutmaster will lead young boys to adopt a “homosexual lifestyle.” (2) Fear of pedophilia: The grossly misinformed view that a homosexual equals a sexual predator. (3) Fear of progress: The nagging feeling that the BSA will grow irrelevant if it cedes ground to increasingly mainstream views. All of these are no doubt very real fears for the papacy at BSA. Convinced (wrongly) of the choice-based, magical malleability of human identity and sexuality, it makes sense to the BSA honchos that “bad models” should be kept out. It is understandable, too, that the BSA should fear for its relevance to contemporary boys, what with all the Halo and X-box and what not. Eminently less excusable is the view that a certain type of person is more prone than others to molesting kids. It just ain’t true, and the idea is poisonous. Sadly, fear-driven (often, but not always, religious) ignorance is usually not sufficient grounds for a civil or criminal suit. But in those few and rare cases where enlightened realism has trumped naive conservatism, all have won. Ignorance breeds ignorance. If ignorance is a “value” that the BSA champions, then I suggest that the young folks of today are better off building character elsewhere. (By the by, I am an Eagle Scout. It’s a strange thing, to grow old and watch an institution you knew and loved grow increasingly out-of-touch with the world).