Boy Scouts of America official resigns in protest over expulsion of gay mother
4:41 pm - 05/01/2012
A regional official of the Boy Scouts of America has resigned in protest at the expulsion of a gay mother from her son’s group for being a lesbian.
Jennifer Tyrrell was ejected from the scouting organisation when her sexual orientation became known.
Now, a board member at the Ohio River Valley Council has stood down.
David Sims, a lawyer, heard of Ms Tyrrell’s case last week and resigned in protest.
He told the Los Angeles Times: “I felt that it was wrong that she was removed as the Tiger Cub leader solely based on her sexual orientation.”
The Boy Scouts of America has adopted positions since 1991 which state that homosexuality is “inconsistent with the Scout Oath that a Scout be morally straight and in the Scout Law that a Scout be clean in word and deed”.
Its Scout Promise states: “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”
The Scout Law states: “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”
Mr Sims said he was not fully aware of the policy which banned gay leaders from the private organisation.
In his resignation letter, Mr Sims wrote: “I understand that this action was taken as a result of a standing policy of the Boy Scouts of America and that said action is legal. However, Ms. Tyrrell’s removal goes against my fundamental beliefs of how we should treat our fellow human beings and is, in my opinion, wholly discriminatory.
“I understand that the Boy Scouts of America is free to run its organization as it sees fit, however, I cannot formally be a part of it based upon this policy.”
Mr Sims, who attained the top, Eagle Scout, status as a scout, urged them to reconsider.
He added that he “knew” his father, who had also reached the highest level, “would support my decision.”
The Boy Scouts of America issued a statement saying: “Scouting is composed of millions of youth members and adult volunteers, in councils across the nation, who represent diverse communities with a variety of beliefs about this issue.
“We value the freedom of everyone to express their opinion and believe to disagree does not mean to disrespect. We’d like to thank this Boy Scout Council board member for his service to youth and wish him well in his future endeavors to serve his community.”
Ms Tyrrell, 32, told the paper she was “very moved” by Mr Sims’ decision and was still hopeful the Boy Scouts of America could be persuaded to change their policy. 264,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to the same effect.
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Jennifer Tyrrell was ejected from the scouting organisation when her sexual orientation became known.
Now, a board member at the Ohio River Valley Council has stood down.
David Sims, a lawyer, heard of Ms Tyrrell’s case last week and resigned in protest.
He told the Los Angeles Times: “I felt that it was wrong that she was removed as the Tiger Cub leader solely based on her sexual orientation.”
The Boy Scouts of America has adopted positions since 1991 which state that homosexuality is “inconsistent with the Scout Oath that a Scout be morally straight and in the Scout Law that a Scout be clean in word and deed”.
Its Scout Promise states: “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”
The Scout Law states: “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”
Mr Sims said he was not fully aware of the policy which banned gay leaders from the private organisation.
In his resignation letter, Mr Sims wrote: “I understand that this action was taken as a result of a standing policy of the Boy Scouts of America and that said action is legal. However, Ms. Tyrrell’s removal goes against my fundamental beliefs of how we should treat our fellow human beings and is, in my opinion, wholly discriminatory.
“I understand that the Boy Scouts of America is free to run its organization as it sees fit, however, I cannot formally be a part of it based upon this policy.”
Mr Sims, who attained the top, Eagle Scout, status as a scout, urged them to reconsider.
He added that he “knew” his father, who had also reached the highest level, “would support my decision.”
The Boy Scouts of America issued a statement saying: “Scouting is composed of millions of youth members and adult volunteers, in councils across the nation, who represent diverse communities with a variety of beliefs about this issue.
“We value the freedom of everyone to express their opinion and believe to disagree does not mean to disrespect. We’d like to thank this Boy Scout Council board member for his service to youth and wish him well in his future endeavors to serve his community.”
Ms Tyrrell, 32, told the paper she was “very moved” by Mr Sims’ decision and was still hopeful the Boy Scouts of America could be persuaded to change their policy. 264,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to the same effect.
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So that last part is meant to be taken literally, I gather?
Huh. Here I thought it was a random coincidence that they used the same word to mean good morals as later got adopted as the term for het people.
Actually, my Dad was an Eagle Scout, and is very proud of it (though, that was in, like 1950, when this was not an issue that was discussed.)
My parents told me that when I had kids I'd want them to have Cub/Boy Scouts. This was before I had the knowledge of my sexual orientation to inform her that my kids wouldn't be eligible because their mother was Not Straight. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I didn't want my daughters to feel the way I did when my sons got to do something they found interesting and weren't invited to join in. *still pissy about Brother going canoeing enough with the Boy Scouts that he got sick of it, so we never went as a family*
Fuck the BSA, though.
And, I know this is off topic, but recently in my hometown there's been a lot of fuss about a woman who disappeared and was missing for 11 days - they ended up finding her body in a creek near one of the local Scout camps. Specifically, one I was at 7 days ago with the Cubs. I am really glad I did not take them anywhere where near the creek...
you are very lucky that you avoided the creek. that couldnt have been a good visual.
our scouts camp had to deal with a plane crash and body search and recovery. more than one, but only one while i was involved with scouting in the region
being horrible little feinds we were terribly excited and spent the entire next time we were there looking for bits that they missed. we did find a bit of plane, but it was in the lake and we never found out if it was from that crash or an earlier one. the leaders spent a lot of time awkwardly letting us know that if we needed to talk about it, they were there, but we were just focused on... building lean-tos and lighting stuff on fire.
man i hope bp rises from the dead, summons a unholy army of undead scouts and rips that guy apart.
Because arseholes? Arseholes exist - we know there are no shortages of bigoted arseholes in the world. But it's the tolerance of them and the acceptance of them that makes my skin crawl. It's not just the sacking of her, but that so masny people in the organisation thought this was ok or, at very least, tolerable
Pawnee Goddesses: Freakin' Awesome
Also, good on him for doing that!
Edited at 2012-05-01 10:30 pm (UTC)
good on this guy
this whole situation is horrible and not in anyway what scouting is supposed to be. robert baden powell is turning in his grave fast enough to supply power to all of kenya. (which is where his grave is)
the more i hear about scouting in the states, the less i like it.
i loved my days as a scout. i was a patrol leader, i had my silver chain. i worked my ass off for my badges and loved every minute of it. even the ones where the boys whined about me being a patrol leader. i got to meet the fricking queen, and prince phillip, who is the 'lead scout'. i got a medal. i got first aid skills and camping skills and all sorts of other awesome skills. i can light a fire with two peices of paper, one match and some twigs. (i can light anything on fricking fire) scouts canada is pretty awesome. it makes me sad to see how scouting in the states is. scouting is supposed to be awesome and enlightening and fun. not close minded and full of assholes
And high five for Patrol leader whistles! I still have mine, it's really handy for breaking up arguments :P
*high five* i didn't get to keep mine, our tradition was that each leader got the whistle from the leader they suceeded, and then in turn you passed it on to the person following you. i totally rarely used it when i had it though, as the scout that it came from was my older brother, and it took him 3 weeks to find it in his messy room. i never felt like it was clean enough to use. there was a neat little ceremony though, which was cool. i was the first girl in my province to be a patrol leader, and when i left i got to pass it to the third girl in my province to be a patrol leader.
a couple years ago my brother gave me a "un-official patrol leader whistle" for xmas. i still have it dangling on my keys. i only use it when i need my parents dog to pay attention, but it works awesome for that.
http://www.wdaz.com/event/article/id/82
And they kept records on pedophiles but never went to the police:
http://www.care2.com/causes/boy-sco
Hey, they even helped one cross international borders!
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2
Tyrrell is a lesbian
I wish that once in a while these homophobic clowns really would "think of the chilllldren."
Whatever, BSA. Girl Scouts forever. (Three years, Troop 4839, Greater New York Council, up in hurrrr.)