It’s the best thing to happen to the Catholic Church in a long time: The Boy Scouts, another institution parents trust with the rearing of their children, is about to see some of its “perversion files” put on display for all the world to see.
Accused of covering up sex abuse allegations for decades, the Boy Scouts faces a lawsuit in Oregon based on abuse charges stemming from the 1980s. Former assistant scoutmaster Timur Dykes (pictured below), who was convicted three times in the 1980s of sexual abuse of young boys, allegedly molested the plaintiff while he was a scout, leading to “mental health problems, bad grades in school, drug use, anxiety, difficulty maintaining relationships and lost several jobs over the years because of the abuse.”
The lawyer for a man who was molested in the 1980s by a Scout leader has obtained about 1,000 Boy Scouts sex files and is expected to release some of them at a trial that began Wednesday. The lawyer says the files show how the Boy Scouts have covered up abuse for decades. The trial is significant because the files could offer a rare window into how the Boy Scouts have responded to sex abuse by Scout leaders. The only other time the documents are believed to have been presented at a trial was in the 1980s in Virginia.
At the start of the Oregon trial, attorney Kelly Clark recited the Boy Scout oath and the promise to obey Scout law to be “trustworthy.” Then he presented six boxes of documents that he said will show “how the Boy Scouts of America broke that oath.” He held up file folder after file folder he said contained reports of abuse from around the country, telling the jury the efforts to keep them secret may have actually set back efforts to prevent child abuse nationally. “The Boy Scouts of America ignored clear warning signs that Boy Scouts were being abused,” Clark said.
And why haven’t we seen these files before? Because, says Boy Scouts attorney Charles Smith, they contain “confidential information.” Well, yeah.
Oh, what is it about organizations that terrorize the gays only to cover up pedophilia.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
terrwill
The Scout oath requires members to be “morally straight.” The organization “takes the position that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the Scout oath … and contrary to the Scout Law to be ‘clean’ in word and deed,” according to Thomas E. Baker, a constitutional scholar at the Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa, who wrote an impartial analysis of the case for the American Bar Association.
It was just a case of miscommunication! The Scout leaders thought the scouts handbook was a book about hands on scouts!! : p
Mike in Asheville, nee "in Brooklyn"
They terrorize us gays, like many homophobes, to provide cover for their utter failure at policing illicit behavior within their ranks.
Athiest
Let’s not forget that the BSA is a corporation owned by the mormon church.
ChicagoLIberal
Don’t forget the Mormons make every young man from 10 on become a member of the BSA. I was one of the unfortunate. Not only was I harrassed, physically and psychologicly abused I was also asked to sleep away from the other boys on scout trips with my scout leader “Bill” in his tent and in his sleeping bag. While no physical molestation took place it was just strange to spoon with a rather hot red head “ginge” leader all night. I knew then I was gay so I was afraid that if I did anything or let on I would be at fault.
It still continues to this day as I see my nephews going on these trips where j/o sessions, smoking and drinking are part of the experience.
LDS Inc. does nothing to check on these outings – but they love the press on all of their Eagle Scout.s
Gus
Now I don’t wonder why my parents never would allow me to join the Boy Scouts or walk past the priest’s home. And this was the 1960’s
GetALife
This should surprise no one. The Boy Scouts were founded by Lord Baden-Powell, a closeted gay man who enjoyed watching naked boys run around in the woods.
tazz602
I only wish there was sex going on when I was a Boyscout. All I got was instructions on how to smoke pot and a speech on how it wasn’t that bad for you.
romeo
Cool troop, Tazz.
Not much sex here either. Just a some beating off in the tent during the annual camping trip. Troop leaders were major fogeys.
Hyhybt
@Athiest: Maybe where you live.
Henry Holland
I was 12 or 13, in a Scout troop in California. One night, a bunch of us hear this giggling come from the scout master’s tent. The giggling was that of the scoutmaster and a little asshole named Dan. I was jealous, our scoutmaster was a hottie.
About a year ago, I asked my dad if there had been any problems about our scout master. He said the dude liked to tie boys in their underwear up to trees and shoot arrows above their head. “How Saint Sebastian!” I said. He basically got out of town before being lynched by angry parents.
This was 1972, so this story is old news.
Dellisonly
@Hyhybt:
No darlin’ everywhere. Watch any of the documentaries on BSA policy and then fact check. The Chucrch of Latter Day Saints owns a majority of the ‘club’. Same with most of the land in Nevada.
Hyhybt
@Dellisonly: Not the same as owning the whole thing.
jeffree
i’m not doubting a connection between boyscouts & gays \\& mormon\\ based on what i heard in our comingout group @ school awhile ago.
can please someone link me to any reliable sources so i can use this information 4 a paper I have to write in May? We have 2 make a speech too for that class.
***thank you!****
no one believed i would graduate highschool but i did. nobody thinks ill graduate colllege but i’m trying.
roflmfao
My husband was molested by an older scout, he was all of 10. He ran and told the scout master who actually spanked him for lying! And forced him back into the same tent. I changed his entire life, from an open happy little boy, to someone who routinely broke bones of his opponents on the karate and judo mats. And rather than get help for this obviously hurting teen, the coaches exploited that by telling him to take his rage out on the mat.
Steve
I was a scout, and then a scouter, for a total of 15 years. I left scouting when the BSA published its official policy that homosexuals were not welcome.
The Boy Scouts was a surprisingly gay organization, but it was very closeted. I can only assume that it still is surprisingly gay, and that it may be less closeted now.
My first gay sexual experiences were on camping trips. When I was a boy (less than 18 years), there were several gay boys in my troop, and number of gay boys in the OA lodge. We were very careful to make sure the adults didn’t find out.
When I was an “adult” (over 18), I knew a number of other gay adults in the OA lodge. I had met most of them as boys, of course. The others were older, and had been adult members when I was a boy. We were very careful to make sure the boys didn’t find out, and just as careful to make sure the straight adults didn’t find out.
Basically, if a boy stayed in Boy Scouts beyond the age of about 13 or 14, it was very likely that he enjoys the company of other boys. Those older boys were the ones who get elected to OA, and took leadership positions in the troops and OA lodges. Think about it — Straight boys left scouts at puberty to chase girls, but gay boys stayed in scouts to go camping with other boys.
The straight adults (especially the parents) didn’t want to know, so we didn’t tell them.
I have stayed in touch with scouting, without being a member. A lot has changed. I believe it is still a surprisingly gay organization. If the national leadership wasn’t so vehemently anti-gay, they could have a viable national organization for another hundred years.
It is entirely appropriate for BSA to have youth-protection policies. And, it is entirely appropriate to prosecute individuals who prey upon youth. But it is not helpful to dwell on sexuality so much that they destroy program and alienate sponsors. Most public schools now do NOT sponsor scout units, precisely because of that policy of discrimination against gay people. Without units in schools, BSA is dying a slow death.
Scouting units in other countries have openly gay members, and even whole units in which most of the boys are gay. The scouting organizations in those countries are thriving. I think BSA should follow that model, and tell the LDS bigots that bigotry is no longer welcome. I would sign up, again, to help.
alan brickman
Worse than the catholic church by far!!!
Jadis
That brings up some bad memories. I was forced into it by my parents and it was like being sent to the gulag. What a nightmare.
Rikard
I was a mormon scout. Uncomfortable with most of it because there was nothing queer about it. No drinking, smoking, groping or spooning either. I got my eagle and got out as soon as possible. I had high hopes for scouting, but the mormons made it just as boring as church. Then I got a job as a bus boy where I could drink, smoke pot and hang out with older guys.
Joshua
I was in the scouts (in the UK) for all of my teenage years, was openly gay and never had problems about it, from the leaders or the other scouts. It just wasn’t an issue.
Ryan
Am I the only person who had nothing but positive experiences as a scout? Granted I grew up usually around troops with a heavy influx of military kids, being one myself and I was in quite a few different troops over the years. The closest I ever came to a gay experience was sharing wistful looks with another area manager when I ran handicrafts at a summer camp at the tender age of 17. Apart from that there wasn’t any real hanky panky (child child or otherwise) going on in any of my troops, at least that I ever noticed and I was with the scouts from wolf scout to Eagle.
JimD
The “Scouts” have been GAY FROM DAY ONE !!! Baden-Powell was a POOFTER !!!
RBluu
WOW, I never realized how many folks think Scouting is that bad. I was in from second Grade through age 18, Where I left with my Eagle and 2 palms. I started in Oregon, where i went through Cub Scouts and joined a Troop for about a year and a half. Then we moved to the Bay Area in CA. Spent three years with another Troop. Where my Father became Asst. Scout Master. Then we moved to UT and he took over as Scout Master of a wayward troop of seven to the strongest Troop in the Council of 35 scouts. NO it was not at a Mormon Church. It was another church, but all the boys came from several other churches, even had a couple LDS members.
No boy ever slept with an adult unless that Adult was his father or legal gaurdian in any of my units. This is now policy in the BSA organization. There was no toerlance for any smoking or any other behavior that would be deemed inappropriate. This too is BSA regulations. The BSA is ran by volunteers. The program is as strong as the people running it. I had three very good units. I am noe an Asst. Scoutmast for my boy’s Troop. If I ever thought there was any thing going on within the unit, there would be hell to pay. Boys sleep no more than two to a tent. Adults Sleep in seperate tents, they shower in seperate facilities, and wehn possible do not share the same toilet. We are not allowed to go into a punlic restroom if there are boys already in there.
BSA is not OWNED by the Mormons. However, they do have a seperate intity of the BSA program. One that they even have their own books. Their program is configured to get the boys to Eagle as fast as possible, as it is more of the church youth group than anything else. If all you have experienced is and LDS troop, then you have NOT experience BSA as it is meant to be. They can acomplish Merit Badges that take most scouts 1-2 months to finish, and do them all in one afternoon.
I am in no way saying abuse has never happened, nor still happens. But the BSA have programs to prevent it. However, when it does happen, we are told to report anything we see as worng to the local authorities. Not to sweep it under the rug.
We are volunteers, being lead by volunteers. If you see something that is wrong, step in and fix it. Do not stand on the outside and critize it while doing nothing.
The program is a good one, and like anything else, a few bad people should not ruin it for everyone else.
mlaiuppa
What do the Catholics and Boy Scouts share in common.
Neither organization can differentiate between homosexuals and pedophiles.