Regarding the Boy Scouts of America: I was a Cub Scout Den Mother, and my son’s father was a Boy Scout Master in the 1970s and 80’s in South Snohomish County. Both my sons attained Eagle status. They, and others in the troop, remember their outings as the best days in camaraderie, instruction and learning. The Boy Scouting age encompasses sexual recognition with its myriad questions.
Perhaps, Scoutmaster Bob Hayman of Marysville never formally discussed sexuality with his troop, but he certainly was aware of the cognizance of the boys to their maturation, wasn’t he? A few scouts had trouble with outdoor activities, physical coordination, social integration, etc., but most of them were outstanding individuals, as they attest in adult life.
The Boy Scouts of America is slow to change, and expresses much intolerance. My own personal experience includes an African American lawyer still bitter that he was not awarded his Eagle because he was black, and a Japanese American who was denied his Eagle during World War II. A U.S. Air Force family in the late 1970s told me they were denied membership in Idaho, during the Cold War missile buildup, to the only Boy Scout troop, which was church-affiliated.
The Boy Scouts of America is an outstanding organization. I hope its faults are corrected expeditiously.
Bothell
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