Transgender policy change

[Stosh]

The lashings shall cease when the morale improves.

[Stosh]

@@TAHAWK and @@David CO

 

I'm not sure what the problem is here.

The problem is you don't see the humor in it.

[qwazse]

Not supposed to discuss it in scouting? I just can't get those Venturing Personal Safety Awareness videos out of my head.

 

Part of our problem: folks have this delusion that we can sway the moral strictures of another unit. So unit X includes some category of scout/scouter that unit Y finds anathema. Unit Y expects BSA to do something about it. Then unit Z finds out about how exclusive unit Y is, and expects BSA to do something about it. Finally, BSA says, "were standing by our units". Y doesn't like that means we put up with X, Z doesn't like that means we put up with Y, X just wants their scout/scouter back. Someone starts writing sob stories about how scout couldn't fit in at Y and has to go all the way to Z. And everyone is bludgeoned to the point that nobody looks good.

 

People have phones, and make those angry calls easily. This, my friends, is why local option is never an option.

[TAHAWK]

The lashings shall cease when the morale improves.

At least we finally have an accurate illustration of the tripod lashing the in Handbook - after fifty-eight years.

 

(But lost the index in favor of another list of word-search results.)

[Ranman328]

Please don't assume to know what I get and don't get.  You're also contradicting yourself.  You say you've never heard scouts speak of their sexual activity, yet you say this scout was.  Which is it?  

 

I'm not sure where you do your scouting activity, but as many other have said, the topics of sex and inappropriate talk does happen; hormones, puberty, and all that. This is 100% correctable behavior, and not related to the scout being gay.  Whether he or anyone was talking about his male or female conquests, it's inappropriate.  Instead of trying to shelter your son from the real world, correct the behavior, explain why it's inappropriate and move on.  

 

As I have stated before Pale Horse, you don't get it.  Yes you are correct that this is 100% correctable behavior.  Since your last post, I have gone back and re-read my Boy Scout Leader book and no where in it does it state or tell me how I am to correct this type of behavior.  Because I should not be having to deal with this type of behavior in BOY SCOUTS!!!  Again to educate you, It is my responsibility to help mold these young men into great human beings and to keep them at the same time.  I should not have to explain to these boys what this other scout means when describing his sexual activity with other boys.  This is something I would talk to my own son about and it certainly should not happen at a Boy Scout meeting.

[gumbymaster]

Pale Horse.  You just don't get it.  For your information this scout was attempting to discuss in detail HIS  "dudes he smashed" as you so colorfully have put it.  I am not sure where you participate in scouting at but I have never heard or witnessed any scouts speaking or heard any other scouts saying they have heard or discussed their activity.  So no you are wrong when you say it isn't a gay or straight issue.  In this case, it was a gay issue.  This is my son we are talking about and when my son says he is not comfortable around this type of behavior, I will remove my son from that situation.  It has nothing to do with not being accepting or tolerant.  This is in the best interest of my son and family.  Thank you!

 

Some 30+ years ago, when I was a scout youth, and the first person in our patrol/circle of friends managed to "go all the way" with his girlfriend ... Just like that scene in Grease, we were all "tell me more, tell me more".  It is unrealistic for us to expect that youth of that age won't (want to) talk about it, or that they will not be curious about it if others are talking.  It is a momentary lapse in "A Scout is Clean", but it is an age (but not scouting) appropriate discussion. 

 

It would also be unrealistic to expect that a gay youth member would also not be similarly inclined to "brag" about their conquests.

 

While a gay youth might be more inclined to keep quite about such things, it would be more out of a sense of peer pressure and non acceptance.  Which is the opposite of why a straight youth who might be inclined to keep such things between himself and his girlfriend, might be induced to join the locker room conversations. 

 

I do not take a position of if you think such behavior is right or wrong - in either case it is not appropriate for a scouting venue.

 

As an Adult leader, if I were aware of or overhead the discussion, in either case - because to do otherwise would be unfair - would be to remind the youth such discussions are inappropriate at a Scout function.  And while I would probably not extend this to a level of consequences, if I did in one case, I would also have to do so in the other case.

 

As said, it [the oversharing discussion] is not (should not be) a gay or straight issue; it is one of what is appropriate at a Scouting function and what is not.

[Peregrinator]

separate tents for a married couple thats well mad. 

Why is it? This is scouting not family camping.

[Stosh]

Why is it? This is scouting not family camping.

 

The Mrs. and I take the scoutss out all the time.  She's well versed in outdoor environment, forester by trade and many years working with the National Forestry Service in Alaska as a crew supervisor.  She is also an expert in canoeing and kayaking and goes along as a qualified safety person on the floats.  She sleeps in the same tent with me.   Not all seems on the surface what lurks below. 

[NJCubScouter]

 

 

I imagine no different than all boy units with female SM/ASMs.  Regardless, BSA is asexual in my opinion.  Our unit has never had husband/wife leader team before but it has been discussed.  The Troop would insist on separate tents for even a married couple.

separate tents for a married couple thats well mad.

 

Why is it? This is scouting not family camping.

 

I figured I was not the only one who did not remember this exchange between DadScouts and Tyke on the second page of this 26-page thread, so I "quoted" all of the relevant posts.

 

BSA policy permits married couples to tent together.  Although there has never been a married couple among the leaders in my troop, I suspect that most married couples would choose to share a tent (like Stosh and his wife) and that most units would not have a problem with it.  It does not matter whether it is "Scout camping" or "family camping."  It is a matter of personal/unit preference.

[Chadamus]

On the rare occasion when my wife (MC) joins myself (ASM) and the Troop on a campout, we tent together. No one has a problem with it.

[qwazse]

I figured I was not the only one who did not remember this exchange between DadScouts and Tyke on the second page of this 26-page thread, so I "quoted" all of the relevant posts.

 

BSA policy permits married couples to tent together.  Although there has never been a married couple among the leaders in my troop, I suspect that most married couples would choose to share a tent (like Stosh and his wife) and that most units would not have a problem with it.  It does not matter whether it is "Scout camping" or "family camping."  It is a matter of personal/unit preference.

I must have missed this.

 

It is, at its core, a matter of not catching the ire of those who take St. Paul at his word when he said "Let the marriage bed be sacred." (There are several other references from more ancient texts as well.) If there's any place where our religious CO's being the majority have left their mark, it is in our YPT.

 

When Mrs. Q joins us, we share a tent. Mainly because she refuses to join me out under the stars!

Edited April 4, 2017 by qwazse

[Stosh]

I always tent with my wife.  In bear country I figure she's sweeter than I am and I can outrun her.  Two very important issues to consider when camping.

[CalicoPenn]

I always tent with my wife.  In bear country I figure she's sweeter than I am and I can outrun her.  Two very important issues to consider when camping.

 

 

Stosh,

 

As soon as I read this I thought of this quote from you:

 

She's well versed in outdoor environment, forester by trade and many years working with the National Forestry Service in Alaska as a crew supervisor. 

 

Somehow I get the feeling that she's not worried about camping in bear country when she's with you because she knows she'll be able to outwit both you and the bear in the wilderness.

 

[Stosh]

I have no doubt that you are correct in that assumption.  She's probably better at dealing with bears than I am.   Still, I'm going to always wear my running shoes to bed, just in case.

[Stosh]

She's the one that taught me that bears are always a concern, but moose are the real danger.  They are just plain ornery.  We were up in Yellowstone and saw a number of cars parked along the road.  Someone had seen something.  So we stopped to see what everyone was up to.  About 75 yards off the road someone had come across a moose lying down resting.  The crowd had totally encircled the moose taking pictures.  She said, "We need to get out of here NOW!"  I was surprised.  She said if that moose gets to it's feet someone's going to get hurt. 

 

While in Alaska if there was a bear in the neighborhood, her kids were still allowed to play outdoors, but if a moose was sighted (which was quite often) the kids were all rounded up and put in the house.  A few years ago the son of a neighbor of hers (teenager) was killed as he walked from the school bus drop off to the house (something he had done hundreds of times before) when he couldn't get around an intruding moose.

 

The area in which anyone camps needs to be scouted and made safe and all the boys need to be trained for such situations well in advance.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Stosh