Skip to footer

Why Scott Walker opposes the Boy Scouts decision to allow gay scout leaders

The Wisconsin governor spoke out against the Boy Scouts of America's decision to lift their ban on gay scout leaders, drawing criticism from gay rights activists.

|
John Locher/AP
Republican presidential candidate, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, speaks during a campaign event at a Harley-Davidson dealership Tuesday, in Las Vegas.

The Boy Scouts of America voted Monday to end their ban on gay scout leaders, and Scott Walker isn’t happy about it.

The Wisconsin governor and Republican presidential candidate, who has been involved with the organization since childhood, spoke out against the decision on Tuesday in an interview with the Independent Journal Review. 

“I have had a lifelong commitment to the Scouts and support the previous membership policy because it protected children and advanced Scout values,” Governor Walker said, citing his own Eagle Scout status, the involvement of his two sons, and his wife’s position as den mother. 

The new policy lifts the nationwide ban but still allows individual troops to decide whether or not to allow gay scout leaders, as around 70 percent of Scout units are currently sponsored by churches and other religious institutions, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the United Methodist Church. It’s the latest move in the BSA’s gradual shift toward accepting all sexualities: In 2013, the organization revoked its ban on the membership of gay youth.

Walker’s comments have drawn criticism from gay rights activist groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, which called for Walker to renounce his statement and apologize on the grounds that his remarks were “offensive, outrageous, and absolutely unacceptable.”

"His comments imply that we represent a threat to the safety and well-being of young people,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Walker’s campaign elaborated on his comments Tuesday evening, explaining that the previous policy “protected Scouts from the rancorous political debate over policy issues and culture wars. Scouts should not be used as a political football on issues that can often be heated and divisive.”

Walker, who is said to be the most polarizing governor in the country, is revered by the far-right and despised by the far-left for his aggressively conservative agenda. In a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey, 6.4 percent of 400 self-identified Republicans surveyed chose Walker as the 2016 Republican presidential candidate.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Why Scott Walker opposes the Boy Scouts decision to allow gay scout leaders
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0715/Why-Scott-Walker-opposes-the-Boy-Scouts-decision-to-allow-gay-scout-leaders
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe