YPP works

[berkshirescouter]

Interesting story. Proves that if followed and inforced the boys are safer in Scouts.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/apr02/37618.asp

 

Paul

[NJCubScouter]

YP does indeed work when it is enforced, though I think it remains to be seen whether this story is a good example of that. Although the story says that nobody has come forward to claim abuse by this guy over the 30-plus years that he was a Scoutmaster and Scouter, this may now change. People who are abused as chidren or teenagers are often very reluctant to come forward, and often the publication of a newspaper story like this will bring out others who claim that the same person abused them years earlier. This can be due in part to people fearing that they will not be believed, but once the person is a "known abuser," they then feel more secure because their claim will have more credibility. Another aspect is "recovered memory," a current hot topic of controversy in the psychology biz.

 

So I would not necessarily assume that Scouting's YP policies provided complete protection in this particular case. If in a year nobody has come forward about this guy, then you might be able to draw that conclusion.

 

Also, this guy was a Scouter since 1968, long before there were any YP guidelines at all.

 

Since this is the "Issues" board, I will depart from the YP topic and point out that nowhere in this story is any indication that the guy was "openly" or "avowedly" gay. (I am assuming for purposes of discussion that he is in fact considered "gay," since he was trying to pick up a 14-year-old boy. I know that this is another hot topic in psychology, but I don't want to get into it.) It seems safe to assume that someone who was an education director at a Catholic school, and well enough respected in his Catholic diocese to be appointed liaison to the Boy Scouts, never told anybody he was gay. Otherwise he would have been kicked out, either by the Church or Scouting or both, even without any evidence of his actual conduct. So if anybody thinks (contrary to what the BSA says) that the anti-gay policy protects the kids, here is an example of that not being the case. Here is a closeted gay person who was a child abuser. Nothing in the BSA anti-gay policy would have caused this guy to be removed.(This message has been edited by NJCubScouter)

[Mike Long]

(This message has been edited by Mike Long)

[Quixote]

NJ - i agree, the BSA policy did not prevent this, but it didn't allow it either.

 

From the same perspective, you could argue that a litmus test to exclude all gays (avowed or not) WOULD have prevented this.