The Boy Scouts of America may decide tomorrow to lift its ban on gay scouts (though not gay scout leaders).
As a symbol of opposition, NBC News found Eagle Heights Baptist Church in Harrison, Ark., whose pastor says his church will no longer sponsor a Cub Scout pack if gay boys are allowed to be members. Its leaders are trying to pray away the gay.
“We are faced with a very hard decision,” Pack 215’s Cubmaster, Carol Gilley, said last week. “This has been weighing heavy on my mind for a long time … I finally told myself God is bigger than this problem so I’m just giving it over to God and I pray, I pray about it — that things stay the way they are.”
… For Gilley and others in her pack, talking about homosexuality with their children is a non-starter. Gilley said they refer to the debate as “the issue” around the boys rather than using the word “gay,” and pack secretary, January Studyvin said she is dreading having a “gut-wrenching conversation” with son Daylon, about the fate of the pack.
The Harrison church is undoubtedly not alone in its sentiment, though the Mormon Church, a major scouting sponsor, has given tacit approval.
Ralph Reed’s enlistment in what would be only a half-measure is scant encouragement to change my earlier sentiments on the subject.
UPDATE: Here’s the leader of the Boy Scouts on the compromise effort to dance on a head of a pin.