MAD ABOUT THE BOYS

Anchorage Church Kicks Out Boy Scouts Over Gay Members Policy

imgresA group of Boy Scouts will no longer be allowed to use Anchorage Baptist Temple as its meeting place due to the church’s opposition to the organization’s decision to admit openly gay scouts, reports KTUU, an Anchorage news affiliate of NBC.

Rev. Jerry Prevo, pastor of the church, said he had hoped the Boy Scouts’ policy change, which allows openly gay young people as scouts but no openly gay adults as leaders, would be reconsidered.

In an email Prevo sent to Mark Schneider, whose 12-year-old son is a member of the local Troop 1316, he said the BSA had “‘tucked and ran’ from continuing to take the stand they have taken from their inception and change back and then we will too.I understand many churches are dropping their support. Maybe this will get their attention.”

KTUU also reached out to Prevo for comment, but he refused to respond.

Don’t worry about the boys, though, other community organizations and religious leaders, including those from local Methodist churches and a Jewish synagogue, have stepped up to offer nearby places for them to meet.

“We were going to be OK, one way or another, we were going to do what’s best for the boys,” Schneider said. “But the community has really impressed me.”

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