Hey there Guys. On a slightly lighter note today I thought it was time for a look back to the past and to the future. As a kid growing up in Australia I was a Boy Scout. Yes, even a gay Boy Scout! I loved my time in the Scouts. Camping, adventures, perhaps a bit of checking out the other lads…these were fun times. I made good friends and learnt some useful skills. Today I thank Scouts for my getting into medicine. Armed with a passion for civic duty and all my first aid badges, medicine was inevitable.
For me Scouts was great and I would still recommend it to other young kids looking for some fun, adventure and perhaps for parents looking for a night off each week and the occasional weekend. Scouts was heaps of fun and given I was crap at sport it was an excellent way for me to get my dose of guy stuff.
I was really sad when I heard the news that Ryan Andresen, a gay Boy Scout, had been kicked out of the Scouts. Even worse, despite his meeting all the criteria for Eagle Scout, the highest honour in Scouts, he was denied the badge. Why? Because Ryan was brave enough to stand up and be proud of who he was, gay and a Scout.
The sad irony is that his final project was a wall of tolerance at his school. What a shame the Boy Scouts of America can’t see their own blatant bigoted discrimination.
It is reprehensible that Boy Scouts Of America is perfectly comfortable ejecting Scouts who are openly gay, yet kept detailed “perversion files” on suspected child molesters but never handed these files to the police until years later.
In a move that warms my heart hundreds of gay Boy Scouts from around the USA have been sending their Eagle badges to Ryan as a show of support and solidarity. Ellen Degeneres has even offered her support having Ryan on her show and gifting $20 thousand dollars towards his college fund.
Gay Boy Scout Ryan Andersen on Ellen
Today I signed the petition put together by Ryan’s mom. You too can tell Boy Scouts of America that discrimination is not ok, simply click here to add your name to the petition.
I can hope that with time the bigoted and unjust actions of Boy Scouts of America may match the happy, fun and dare I say, “gay” times I had as a Boy Scout.
Yours, a proud gay Boy Scout.
Dr George
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