PAY IT FORWARD

Gay Filmmaker Helps Boy Scouts Earn Cinema Patches, Teaches Them About Acceptance

tumblr_kyqe1rCa6x1qzqkowThe Boy Scouts of America started taking baby steps into reality last week by announcing a possible change in their historically anti-LGBT acceptance policies. If passed on May 20, the new resolution will allow gay youth to serve openly in the Boy Scouts, so long as they grow out of it and become heterosexual adults.

Yeah, we’re not making this up.

The most problematic part of the organization’s ban on gays, according to former scouts and parents of current members, are the undeniably awesome benefits the experience provides. Legislators working toward changing the Boy Scouts’ outdated policies have even addressed the benefits of growing up with a Scout’s education, a point made clear by Sen. Ricardo Lara of California during discussions on the group two weeks ago:

“The Boy Scouts provide a critical service for our youth, but all we’re saying is that everybody should have the opportunity to participate in such a great organization.”

Gay filmmaker Todd Bieber, for instance, is one of the many proud Eagle Scouts fighting for equality instead of giving up on the organization that helped shape his childhood. Rather than returning his Eagle Scout badge like so many of his peers, he decided to become a merit badge counselor and pay it forward by giving young scouts the opportunity to learn through experiences he didn’t get.

Enlisting the help of filmmakers from The Late Show and The Onion, as well as openly gay actors Chris Kelly and Denis O’Hare, Bieber helped his scouts earn their Cinema Badge, as well as a valuable new take on the diverse world around them.

Check out the documentary Bieber made in the process below, as well as the final video he helped his scouts create.

Here’s the finished product:

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