Let me preface this by saying I donât actually care whether or not the Boy Scouts become co-ed. As a former Girl Scout, it just does not fucking matter. But the absolutely vile discourse that has resulted from it has completely turned my stomach, so here we go.
Hereâs the reality of the situation:
The Boy Scouts have had multiple co-ed programs (like Venturing) since the 80âs. Itâs not new, folks! And a number of Boy Scout troops have allowed girls to participate in troop meetings and scouting events for years.
The only difference in them allowing girls to join is that they can earn the badges and rank of Eagle Scout when before they couldnât. Thatâs it. They have also stated that the troops themselves will not be co-ed, the girls will have to have their own troops. The Girl Scouts also have had co-ed factions for years, although this has not been a focus for them.
In other countries, the scouts were only separated by gender on a shallow, surface level and worked cooperatively. Most already merged together years ago. In the US, we have a sharper divide. I could speculate about this being due to puritanical origins for the Boy Scoutâs and the progressive push and reactionary creation of the Girl Scouts instead of them being created together with similar goals.Â
Now, all youth programs have experienced a decline in membership in recent years. The Boy Scouts more than most. This was a large influence on their decision to allow girl troops in a last ditch effort to earn back members. The decision is financial, not social for them. They were running out of steam. Â While there are a number of reasons for this, a main one for the Boy Scouts has been a general, slow social progress sweeping through our culture.
The Boy Scouts were always linked heavily with conservativism and right wing religious groups/politics, often not allowing participants who didnât identify as Christians, who refused to follow their strict religious and ethical codes, including things like declaring belief in a Christian God and not being sexually active, etc.
The Boy Scoutsâ largest, and first supporter was the Mormon church. They recently pulled out of supporting the Boy Scouts when they finally, in 2013, lifted the ban on gay youth joining the organization, and in 2015 lifted the ban on gay leaders and employees. And very very recently they have said that they will allow trans members into troops. Despite this, they are not friendly towards gay or queer entrants, their president releasing a statement on the ban lift saying: âWe must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it would be.â And individual troops can still make the choice not to allow gay leaders. Itâs just that the overall ban is lifted.Â
The Trail Life scouts were a staunchly conservative, religious, direct reaction to the Boy Scouts lifting their ban on gay entrants and were created the same year that occurred. The Boy Scouts lost many of their most conservative members to them.Â
In contrast, the Girl Scouts have always allowed queer women (and youâll find women in GS are largely queer or gnc) and racially desegregated troops long before the Boy Scouts did. And they have never forced religious doctrine or conservative politics.
The Boy Scouts toe the line of that they want to be, and alienate their members on both sides of the board. If they want to be progressive, they need to take a leaf out of the Girl Scoutsâ book. If they want to be hatefully conservative and keep banning queer people, then they can continue as they were, with declining members as people become more accepting.Â
