Steve Ray’s Comments Below. Two groups of Catholics are directly impacted by the decision of the Boy Scouts of America to formally admit as scouts youth who profess a same-sex orientation, namely, Catholic sponsoring organizations and Catholic scouts and their families. As always (See Disclaimer no. 1 to the right), I speak only for myself in what follows.
Preliminary points. First, the Church’s absolute rejection of homosexual acts and her description of same-sex attraction as objectively “disordered” (CCC 2357) is not subject to question among Catholics. Second, the Church calls on persons who experience same-sex attraction “to fulfill God’s will in their lives” (CCC 2358) and to practice chastity (CCC 2359) which, for them as for all unmarried persons, connotes complete continence (CCC 2349-2350). Third, the Church warns society to avoid “every sign of unjust discrimination” against those who experience same-sex attraction (CCC 2358). Now, the policy adopted by the Boy Scouts states in pertinent part: “No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”
Second, on its face the policy applies only to membership in the Boy Scouts and not necessarily to participation in all Boy Scout activities; intentionally or not, this narrow phrasing seems to leave open some questions about how a membership policy might be applied to reasonable concerns over participation in certain activities. Third, nothing in the new policy or in Boy Scout literature endorses or advocates the gay life style; in fact all members are prohibited from using the Boy Scouts to promote “any social or political position or agenda”. These three points being noted, the revised policy may be scrutinized from a Catholic point-of-view as follows. To read the whole review, click HERE. Steve’s Comment: Does anyone think that once the camel gets his nose under the tent that he won’t eventually end up inside the tent and chasing everyone else out? We may accept this decision (or we may not) but anyone who knows how the gay agenda works knows full well that they are not happy to be accepted — they want us all to celebrate their gay-ness. If we don’t we are the bigots.
No one who loves traditional families, prolife and sanity among the sexes can be happy with this decision because on the face of it it legitimizes (whether is says so outwardly or not) the gay way of thinking. It will also make it very uncomfortable for boys who will be leery of stepping into a shower with an openly gay boy, or sharing a tent with him. But if he shows any hesitancy it will be HIM that is penalized and discriminated against. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. My guess is that it will have devastating effects on a very wholesome institution. |
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