BSA Now Faces Transgender Scouts

Just as I had foretold in earlier blog postings [April 11, 2014 – “BSA Experiences Budget Shortfall & Membership Decline”], the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are uncontrollably sliding down the slippery slope of cultural depravity.  It was inevitable … after their internal decision to allow for ‘gay’ Scouts in May 2013. 

The Cub Scouts are now facing a transgender controversy after an 8-year-old (born a girl) – who identifies as a boy – was asked to leave a Secaucus, New Jersey Cub pack.

The 8-year-old, who had been a member of the Cub Scouts for about a month, was kicked out of Cub Scout Pack 87 because she is transgender.  Local news accounts indicate an unknown number of parents were upset their sons were in Cub Scouting with a girl who identifies as a boy.

“How dare they judge me?” the child told The Record newspaper.  “I don’t have to explain it.  It’s the way I’m born.”

The New York Daily News (NYDN) reports it may be the first case of a child being prohibited from participating in Scouting activities because of gender identity.

But the BSA defended the child’s removal, pointing out to the newspaper the “child does not meet the requirements to participate in this program.”  “Gender identity isn’t related to sexual orientation,” BSA spokesperson Effie Delimarkos told the NYDN.  In other words, the child was not kicked out for being transgender, but for not being a boy.

“It made me mad,” the child told The Record.  “I had a sad face, but I wasn’t crying.  I’m way more angry than sad.  My identity is a boy.  If I was them, I would let every person in the world go in.  It’s right to do.”

The mother of the ex-Cub Scout told the newspaper she first thought her child was a tomboy “because he [she] liked climbing trees and digging in dirt to look for worms.”  But she said she knew it was more than that by the time he [she] was 5 and she [mom] began reading about what it means to be transgender, the newspaper reported.

Last year, the mother allowed the child to “come out as a boy” and get a short haircut. The Record published an editorial calling for the BSA to reverse its decision.  “There should be some common sense applied here with regard to an 8-year-old. (Name omitted) wants to be a Scout.  He identifies as a boy.  There should be no need for litigation or years of court battles.  He should just be allowed to be a Scout,” the newspaper wrote.

Sooner rather than later, the BSA will no doubt face a legal challenge over its transgender policy.  And the BSA will face further controversies when they are forced to confront non-binary scouts, gender-fluid scouts and genderless scouts.

The Girl Scouts of America (GSA) already allow boys who identify as girls; so don’t be surprised if the BSA capitulates.  After all, they’ve already done it once before – sacrificing their long-cherished values on the altar of tolerance and diversity.

That’s why so many families are getting involved in organizations like American Heritage Girls and Trail Life USA – both being faith-based scouting organizations built on a firm spiritual foundation.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel