Carol Gilley’s two sons love the Boy Scouts.
“Without it, they would probably stay on the computer all day, all evening, all weekend,” Gilley said.
But in the wake of a vote Thursday to end the ban on homosexual youths in the Boy Scouts, the Gilley family’s northwest Arkansas Cub Scout pack is preparing to begin a search that will determine if it can stay together.
More than 1,400 delegates of the Boy Scouts ofAmerica’s National Council voted at its annual meeting to allow gay boys - but not homosexual leaders - to participate in Scouting. The resolution passed with 61 percent of voters in support. It will go into effect Jan. 1 across the country, including in Arkansas, where opposition to the resolution is prevalent.
Gilley is the cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 215 in Harrison, which, like most Boy Scout units across the country and the state, is chartered by a religious organization.Pack 215’s church, Eagle Heights Baptist Church, has said it will no longer charter the pack if gay boys can participate.
Pastor Jay Scribner was out of town Thursday and Friday and couldn’t be reached for comment or to confirm to the pack that they must find a new charter organization. But Gilley seemed confident he would stand by his word.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’re going to start looking for a new charter,” she said Friday afternoon. She said she was sure they’d find one.
Gilley stands by the church’s decision “100 percent,” she said, “because they are a church that teaches the Bible, and they’re standing by biblical instruction.”
The Westark Area Council, which oversees Boy Scouts in Northwest Arkansas, including Gilley’s troop, sent three voting members to the three-day national meeting in Grapevine, Texas. Assistant Scout Executive Christian Swaim said about 6,500 boys are involved in the council’s area. And most of the 221 Scouting units are chartered by religious organizations, he said.
Scout Executive Bryan Feather said in a statement that he believes the update to Boy Scout policy will “allow all kids who sincerely want to be a part of Scouting to experience this life-changing program while remaining true to the long-standing virtues of Scouting.”
John Carman, Scout executive of the Quapaw Area Council encompassing Little Rock and about half the state, said Friday afternoon he was surprised he hadn’t yet heard much feedback on the decision.
“I don’t know what the reaction will be and only time will tell how many people withdraw from the program if they do that,” said Carman.
The Quapaw Area Council has more than 18,000 youths and about 70 to 75 percent of the 440 Scouting units are chartered by religious organizations, he said.
Six voting members traveled with Carman to the meeting. Four of those voting members were representatives of the local council and required to vote in accordance with the majority of the council members’ wishes, Carman said, which meant they voted againstthe resolution. The two other voting members were on the Boy Scout’s National Executive Board and could vote however they wanted.
About 80 percent of people who contacted the council before the vote said they were opposed to lifting the ban, Carman said. And a survey conducted by the Boy Scouts’ National Council found 74 percent in the Quapaw Area Council to be opposed. However, fewer than 10 charter organizations threatened to stop supporting the Scouts, he said, and about 20 to 30 adult volunteers said they would quit.
“It’s a difficult decision for them,” Carman said, “but for some, this resolution just goes against what they believe is correct and proper behavior.”
The Rev. Britt Skarda, senior pastor at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, said his church has one of the oldest Boy Scout troops in Little Rock. He said the change in Boy Scout policy was a nonissue for the church.
“We’ve been a longtimesupporter of Scouting and we will continue to support Scouting,” he said. Skarda said the church wants to support all Scouts, regardless of sexual orientation. He also said the United Methodist Church was one of the biggest supporting organizations of Scouts across the country.
Carman said people more vehemently opposed the idea of allowing gay leaders as well as gay boys in the Scouts, which didn’t end up on the resolution.
And he didn’t foresee much to change in the program after the lifting of the ban, especially because Boy Scouts are generally aged 7 to 17.
“There’s not a lot of boys at this age who declare themselves to be homosexual,” he said.
Gilley said she did consider pulling her sons from the Scouts following the vote. But they love it, she said, and Scouting should be about them.
“We can’t shelter them forever from the fact of homosexuality,” she said. “It is in their school, it is any place that they go, it is on TV.”
Gilley said she disagrees with the vote, but she thinks people are blowing it out of proportion.
“It’s not about politics, it’s not about money to me, it’s about my little red-headed son sitting at home right now waiting to go on his next camp-out.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 05/25/2013