The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history. The Texas-based organization is announcing at its annual meeting in Florida on Tuesday that it will become Scouting America.
Another positive step in the right direction for an organization rife with brokenness. There's a lot I don't like about the organization, but this is something a love--a scouting organization open to young women and the lgbtq community. The next step is being inclusive of nonreligious agnostic and atheist youth and leaders. As well as ending the cultural appropriation of Native American peoples.
May this organization continue to build up youth, never allow further violence against youth, and make amends for all the wrongs. There's a lot of good that comes out of organizations like this and I won't discount it even though it's riddled with a dark history.
I'd say fight it, because it can be won. Then again, I'd rather my child be a part of a troop that's welcoming and safe. It's hard to be a trailblazer.
There's a lot of reasons to shop around with different troops. This reason is particularly important.
As we know though, trans youth have it particularly bad from every direction right now. π
Yeah, if you are looking for a troop for your kid, avoid the Mormon ones. And the boring ones who don't go anywhere fun. And the "tough" ones with strict parents.
Remember that you can always just go to another one. And when you first get there, they will be on their best behavior. So if you don't like what you see at the first meeting it will probably get worse.
Also, believe your kids if they say they're not having fun. I ended almost as soon as I graduated into Boy Scouts because the troop I wound up joining was full of bullies - wound up being thrown out because I pulled my knife on the scoutmaster's kid, who had pulled HIS knife on ME, and damned if I was going to go out without a weapon in my hand.
Of course, our scout leader was nowhere to be found for all of this, and luckily my parents believed me (my brother was a witness to one incident), so there was no shame, but there was definitely a culture of distrust between several of the parents and their kids that led to them being victimized by the older kids.
It's a risk with the autonomous Troop structure. You agree to follow BSA guidelines, but there's a huge gap for individual Troop choice. Technically, atheists aren't allowed in Scouts, but most Troops ignore that requirement.