Date: 	Wed, 14 Jun 1995 13:03:35 -0700
From: "Kraig R. Meyer" 

Apparently Ben Love is no longer chief scout executive, and the claim in
the posts below is that there is no official standard of membership that
prohibits gay scouts/scouters.  Does anyone know anything about the new
Chief Scout Exec and whether this has any practical affect?

-------------------------
From rec.scouting:

>The one actual official publication dealing with suitability for
>membership questions is "Procedures for Maintaining Standards of
>Membership" 1994 Revision, Irving TX: BSA.  It does NOT, however,
>specifically state anywhere that homosexuality or affiliation with any
>particular religious group is grounds for disqualification from BSA
>membership.
>
>All current information regarding specific disqualifying factors
>(regarding sexual orientation or religious affiliation) is in the form of
>policy memoranda issued during the tenure of Ben Love as Chief Scout
>Executive.  These include an editorial that appeared in "Scouting" (Sep
>1992, p. 12) entitled "Maintining BSA Standards" (keep in mind that the
>BSA reserves that "opinions [that appear in Scouting] may not reflect
>official concurrence.").  Another is a position statement, subject:
>Atheism, Girls, and Homosexuality, dated June 24, 1991, from J. Carey
>Keane, National Director of Relationships/Marketing, BSA (214) 580-2000.
>> 
>> In several BSA publications it specifically states that requirements and 
>> events are not to interfere with a sscouts religious beliefs. However, this 
>> does not include the fact that it is still mandatory to say "God" in the 
>> oath, regardless of one's belief/non-belief in God. But there is a plus side 
>> to the rule as well. Last year, my Order of the Arrow Lodge picked the 
>> date of Yom Kippur for the Fall Fellowship. They were informed that it 
>> needed to be changed if the Lodge wished to continue its 'honor lodge' 
>> status. They did change the date.
>> 
>> It is true that a Scout who 'comes out of the closet' and is actively and 
>> openly homosexual must be dissmissed from the Boy Scouts, as per National 
>> Council regulations.
>
>There are no REGULATIONS stating this; only 3-4 year old memoranda issued
>under another administration.
>> 
>> There are no other hinderances on BSA membrship, except the joining 
>> requirments and yearly dues payments.
>> 
>If anyone knows of any more current or specific official regulations,
>please post references.  Otherwise, after researching this in depth last
>year during "the great debate" here in this group, I have concluded that
>the legitimacy of all membership decisions regarding sexual orientation
>are based on support for the position by the Chief Scout Executive and the
>National Council -- not by any permanent official written regulation.