773 Boy Scouts of America ends ban on Gay troop leaders

(1) Boy Scouts of America ends ban on Gay troop leaders
(2) After Boy Scouts welcome Gays, some churches start alternative group
(3) Catholic Diocese in North Dakota severs all ties with Boy Scouts
over Gay adult Troop Leaders
(4) Schulman: 'Gay Rights movement is Jewish'

Newsletter published on 6 November 2015

(1) Boy Scouts of America ends ban on Gay troop leaders

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/27/boy-scouts-gay-troop-leaders-ban-gay-marriage

Boy Scouts of America ends ban on gay and lesbian troop leaders

On the heels of gay marriage legalization, the organization’s new policy
allows local units to select their leaders to appease both liberal and
religious groups

Alan Yuhas in New York   @alanyuhas

Tuesday 28 July 2015 16.33 AEST Last modified on Wednesday 29 July 2015
09.26 AEST

The national governing body of the Boy Scouts of America has ended a
blanket ban on gay adult leaders while allowing church-sponsored Scout
units to maintain the exclusion because of their faith.

The new policy, aimed at easing a controversy that embroiled the Boy
Scouts for years and threatened the organization with lawsuits, takes
effect immediately. It was approved on Monday night by the BSA’s
80-member national executive board in a teleconference.

The ban pitted leaders and members of the 105-year-old organization
against each other, often fragmenting according to faith. The new policy
seeks a compromise between more liberal groups, such as the New York
City scouting group, and regions whose groups are run by staunchly
conservative faiths, such as the Mormon church.

Under the new policy, local units will be able to select their own
leaders according to their own standards, meaning church-run groups can
“choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own”,
according to a statement from organization executives.

“It is not a victory but it certainly is progress,” said Zach Wahls, an
Eagle Scout and executive director of Scouts for Equality, told the
Guardian earlier on Monday. “I think this is the most progressive
resolution we could’ve expected from the Boy Scouts.”

Wahls noted that the organization had banned gay people since 1978, and
that its decentralized structure – religious organizations charter about
70% of Boy Scout troops – means some prejudices have deep roots.

“What really has to happen is change in the sponsoring organizations,”
he said, adding that his concern was not with specific religious groups
but for full inclusion.

“I’m not worried about Mormon units not allowing gay leaders as there
aren’t a lot of openly gay Mormons anywhere,” he said. “But
discrimination sends a harmful message to gay youths and straight
youths, and it has no place in scouting.”

Scouting law says that a boy scout is cheerful, so we’ll be OKZach
Wahls, Scouts for Equality

On 13 July, the organization’s executive committee, headed by president
and former defense secretary Robert Gates, unanimously approved the
resolution, saying there had been a “sea change in the law with respect
to gay rights”.

“The BSA national policy that prohibits gay adults from serving as
leaders is no longer legally defensible,” the organization said in a
statement earlier this month. “However, the BSA’s commitment to duty to
God and the rights of religious chartered organizations to select their
leaders is unwavering.”

The vote took place only a month and a day after the US supreme court
legalized same-sex marriage throughout the US, striking down state bans
and punctuating the swift progress of gay rights with its 5-4 vote.

The board’s vote also follows only two years after a long and bitter
debate at the organization’s 2013 meeting in Texas, where 60% of some
1,400 scout leaders voted to end the ban. The organization said at the
time that it had no intentions of revisiting the issue.

But earlier this year the New York City chapter hired a gay camp
counsellor, and said it would force the issue in court if necessary to
keep the counsellor employed.

The Boy Scouts has about 2.5 million members between the ages of seven
and 21, as well as 960,000 volunteers in local units, according to the
organization. Membership has steadily declined about 4-6% each year for
several years, contributing to the internal crisis over what to do.

John Stemberger, chairman of the breakaway Christian youth outdoor
program Trail Life USA, told Reuters on Friday that lifting the ban was
an affront to Christian morals and would make it “even more challenging
for a church to integrate a [Boy Scouts] unit as part of a church’s
ministry offerings”.

But major Catholic and Mormon supporters appeared to approve of the new
policy. On its site, the National Catholic Committee on Scouting said
that the Boy Scouts did not endorse homosexuality. The committee then
wrote: “Any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth
of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting.”

The Mormon church meanwhile reasserted itself earlier this month, saying
in a statement that it has “always had the right to select Scout leaders
who adhere to moral and religious principles that are consistent with
our doctrines and beliefs”.

(2) After Boy Scouts welcome Gays, some churches start alternative group

http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/08/after_boy_scouts_welcome_gays.html

By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com

on August 05, 2015 at 6:47 AM, updated August 05, 2015 at 10:44 AM

Trail Life USA now has 21 troops in Alabama sponsored by churches, and
554 troops nationwide. Texas has 73 troops, North Carolina has 52 and
Virginia has 33. Florida, where it started, has 31 troops.

Trail Life USA

A new scouting organization started in 2013 - after the Boy Scouts of
America changed its policy to accept openly gay scouts - has grown
quickly across the country.

Trail Life USA now has 21 troops in Alabama sponsored by churches, and
554 troops nationwide. Texas has 73 troops, North Carolina has 52 and
Virginia has 33. Florida, where it started, has 31 troops.

Last week, the Boy Scouts of America announced another policy change to
allow openly gay scout masters. Those who dropped out of Boy Scouts two
years ago say that's why they left.

"We knew that was coming," said Steve McGill, a former leader of Boy
Scout Troop 404, which formerly met at First Baptist Church of Pelham
and now meets at St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Indian Springs.

McGill now leads a scouting troop at First Baptist of Pelham that's
affiliated with Trail Life USA. "We made our statement two years ago
when we pulled away."

Trail Life USA is an outdoors scouting organization that emphasizes
Christian principles, he said.

"The day scouting went to allowing gay youth into the organization is
basically when the leaders of Trail Life starting working," in May 2013,
McGill said. "They unveiled it in September. January (2014) is when they
opened it up for charters. It's still a work in progress."

Briarwood Presbyterian Church, which severed ties with Boy Scouts in
2013, now hosts a Trail Life troop.

Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover, First Baptist Church of Pelham,
Evangel Church in Alabaster, Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville and
First Baptist Church in Sylacauga are among the sponsors of Trail Life
USA troops.

Trail Life USA is careful about not infringing on the copyrights or
patents of Boy Scouts, although they both take part in outdoors
activities such as camping, McGill said.

"We teach life lessons," McGill said. "Trail Life is a faith-based
organization. We teach outdoors skills. That's what Trail Life is about,
growing Christian boys into Christian men and teaching them outdoors
skills along the way."

Adult leaders of the group sign a statement of faith and must assert
their belief that marriage is intended to be between a man and a woman,
McGill said.

Trail Life USA was started by former Boy Scout leaders in Orlando and it
doesn't have a headquarters building, McGill said. "The main
headquarters is in every church that has a charter," McGill said.

The organization offers principles and guidelines, he said.

If youth are openly gay, they can be turned away, McGill said.

"If he mentions that he might be gay, I don't have to let him join," he
said. "They left it up to the church. If the church charters the
program, it's your program. They just give you guidelines. It's your
program, do what you think is right. We don't approve of that type
behavior. I would probably ask them to leave as nicely as I could. I
don't want that problem around my campfire."

Some of the Boy Scouts who formerly met at First Baptist Pelham went to
Troop 2 in Helena, which is sponsored by a Kiwanis Club, McGill said.

"It created a lot of hard feelings in the troop," McGill said. "The boys
and their families, they either stayed with Boy Scouts, went with Trail
Life, or quit altogether," McGill said. "There are some who were close
to making Eagle that just quit."

That includes McGill's son, who needed to complete a project to become
an Eagle Scout, he said.

Although it was a difficult transition, some pastors said they couldn't
in good conscience continue supporting the Boy Scouts.

"We had supported them for 33 years," said the Rev. Mike Shaw, former
pastor of First Baptist Church of Pelham, who made the decision to
discontinue the Boy Scout troop and affiliate with Trail Life USA.

"We didn't want to leave the boys without something to replace that,"
Shaw said.

Shaw said it was not an effort to hurt the Boy Scouts. "I don't wish
them anything but well," he said. "I was a scout myself."

The Boy Scouts of America won a U.S. Supreme Court decision more than a
decade ago that allowed them to turn away openly gay scouts because it
violated their charter, but decided to change the policy anyway, Shaw noted.

Last week's decision by the Boy Scouts to welcome openly gay scout
masters reinforced the decision to leave and find another group to
affiliate with, Shaw said.

"This does not surprise me," Shaw said. "Some big companies who were
strong financial backers of Boy Scouts wanted them to change their policy."

It goes against biblical standards, Shaw said. "It's something we
Baptists have a hard time dealing with," said Shaw, who retired but is
serving as interim pastor of Riverside Baptist Church in Helena. "We
still preach what the Bible teaches. We don't hate anybody. We just
preach the truth."

Joey Kiker, a regional spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America Greater
Alabama Council, which covers 22 counties in Alabama and has its
headquarters in Birmingham, said after the Boy Scout policy change on
homosexuality that regional affiliates are required to abide by the new
policies.

"We are chartered by the Boy Scouts of America," he said. "It's a
condition of our charter that we follow the national policies. We would
encourage all churches to do what they feel is right. We appreciate the
service they've given to scouting. We hope that any churches that
discontinue scouting, before the last scout walks out the door, to think
about what they can continue to do to serve youth."

Mormons review affiliation with Boy Scouts

One of the largest church sponsors of Boy Scout troops, the Mormons,
announced it is reconsidering its backing of Boy Scouts.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement
last week after the latest change in policy by the Boy Scouts:

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by
today's vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board. In
spite of a request to delay the vote, it was scheduled at a time in July
when members of the Church's governing councils are out of their offices
and do not meet. When the leadership of the Church resumes its regular
schedule of meetings in August, the century-long association with
Scouting will need to be examined. The Church has always welcomed all
boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation. However,
the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines
of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy
Scouts of America.

"As a global organization with members in 170 countries, the Church has
long been evaluating the limitations that fully one-half of its youth
face where Scouting is not available. Those worldwide needs combined
with this vote by the BSA National Executive Board will be carefully
reviewed by the leaders of the Church in the weeks ahead."

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/catholic-diocese-north-dakota-severs-all-ties-boy-scouts-over-gay

(3) Catholic Diocese in North Dakota severs all ties with Boy Scouts
over Gay adult Troop Leaders

By Michael W. Chapman | August 5, 2015 | 12:44 PM EDT

(CNSNews.com) – The Catholic Diocese of Bismark, North Dakota, is
“formally” severing its churches, schools, and other institutions from
the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) because of the latter’s decision to
allow openly homosexual adults and employees to work in the Boy Scouts.

The BSA’s executive committee voted to lift its century-old national
restriction on “openly gay adult leaders and employees” on July 27.  The
Catholic Diocese of Bismark, headed by Bishop David Kagan moved swiftly
to disassociate itself from the now pro-gay BSA.

“[E]ffective immediately, the Catholic Church of the Diocese of Bismarck
and each and every one of its parishes, schools and other institutions,
is formally disaffiliated with and from the Boy Scouts of America,” said
Bishop Kagan in an August 3 letter.

“If your parish sponsors a troop, your priest has been asked to inform
those persons associated with the BSA of this action and to inform the
BSA itself of this decision,” he said.

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual persons are “called to
chastity” and that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered”
because they violate the natural law, the teaching from Scripture, and
they “close the sexual act to the gift of life.” The Church, in its
Catechism, further states that “under no circumstances” can homosexual
acts “be approved.”

“I regret my decision but, in conscience as the Chief Shepherd of the
Diocese of Bismarck, I cannot permit our Catholic institutions to accept
and participate directly or indirectly in any organization, which has
policies and methods, which contradict the authoritative moral teachings
of the Catholic Church,” said Bishop Kagan.

In his Aug. 3 letter, Bishop Kagan listed several “acceptable
alternatives” to the Boy Scouts and to the Girl Scouts. These include
American Heritage Girls; the Little Flowers’ Girls Clubs; the Federation
of North American Explorers; the Columbian Squires; and Trail Life USA.

The Diocese of Bismark was established in 1909 and serves about 66,400
Catholics in 23 counties in western North Dakota. Bishop Kagan was
selected to head the  Bismark Diocese by then-Pope Benedict XVI in
October 2011.

(4) Schulman: 'Gay Rights movement is Jewish'

http://abundanthope.net/pages/True_US_History_108/Schulman-Gay-Rights-movement-is-Jewish_printer.shtml

TRUE US HISTORY

Schulman: 'Gay Rights movement is Jewish'

http://rehmat1.com/2013/08/09/schulman-gay-rights-movement-is-jewish/

By Rehmat

Aug 11, 2013 - 3:32:39 AM

Schulman: 'Gay Rights movement is Jewish'

Posted on August 9, 2013

Professor Sarah Schulman (College of Staten Island, New York) is author
of 17 books. She is a recipient of Fulbright award and Guggenheim
Fellowship. She is an open lesbian and leaders of feminist group within
the Gay Rights movement. And to top that all – Schulman is among the
7,000 Jews, who are declared “Self-Hating Israel-Threatening (S.H.I.T)”
by the Israel Hasbara Committee.

Schulman in her latest book, 'Israel/Palestine and the Queer
International' claims that gay rights movement is mainly funded by
Israel and the Jewish multi-billionaire George Soros.

Behind all her anti-Zionist exterior, Schulman shows her real Zionist
agenda in ''Israel/Palestine and the Queer International'; Palestinians
should stop military resistance against Israel and adopt a
Gandhian-style non-violent protests – and support the 'lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgenders (LGBT)' groups. She believes this will enhance
Hamas image like Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah among the western powers.

On July 15, 2013, American writer, John Friend, said at the American
Free Press: “Virtually every single homosexual rights organization is
American history has been organized and run by Jewish individual“. You
may like to visit Friend's blog here.

Canadian Jewish writer, Eric Walberg, who used to run a blog under the
pen-name Simon Jones, in an article in 2006, entitled 'Jews and gays -
birds of a feather?' {title corrected by PGM; Eric Walberg says he is
NOT Jewish}, wrote that Muslim societies are more tolerant towards gays
than the West. He claimed that Muslims don't hate gays as long as they
carry-on their activities in their own backyard. However, they do want
gays to get involved in the normal human activities; get married with
opposite gender and raise a good family. He said that Muslims don't
misuse gay communities as a political PR as Israel does. [...]