Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: “We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be”

And so ends the Boy Scouts of America’s long-standing ban on gay and bisexual adults being Troop Leaders. It was a unanimous decision!

The ban on gay children participating in the Boy Scouts program ended 2 years ago, but not unanimously - in that vote 61% of approximately 1,400 voting members of the BSA National council voted to end the ban barring gay youth from participating in the BSA program.

My bet is that in a few years, people will look back on this era and shake their heads in disbelief at the cruelty directed at these young kids and adults affected by such blatant ignorant discrimination.

As I have mentioned in years past, I have 2 sons, one gay and one straight. Both were Boy Scouts from first grade on  (well Cub Scouts in their younger years, Boy Scouts in their older years). Both boys achieved their Eagle Scout, the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program, an honor not many boys hang in there long enough to attain.

I am grateful to see progress happen, but sad to think that anyone could have thought a ban on children was ever something God would have sanctioned. But then again, religion has been used over the millennia to justify cruel and hurtful things done unto others, so nothing new here.

UPDATE: There is an exemption for troops organized by religious organizations.

That sucks a bit. Damn!