The Boy Scouts of America might be able to continue staying rent-free in Philly, but on their 100th anniversary the group wasn’t to be showered with President Obama’s attention. Because he loves homosexuals!
That’s the going theory on conservative sites like FreeRepublic.com, while RedState.com condemned the president for hitting up The View while ignoring America’s young boys at the Virginia event because of the scheduling conflict created by taping the TV spot, relays Edge. But I’ve sort of got no problem with the sitting president of a country that condemns discrimination to skip over a group that actively endorses it, not to mention a group that’s been shown to purposefully hide allegations of child abuse.
Even Chuck Norris is getting on the president’s case, writing on Townhall, “President Obama became the honorary president of the BSA in March 2009, and the White House didn’t even mention it. And ever since, any discussions or interactions with the Scouts have been ’don’t ask, don’t tell.’ And how could they, because the president would then have to acknowledge publicly that as honorary president of BSA, he affirmed the Scouts’ oath, beliefs and policies, which prohibit atheists and agnostics from membership and ’avowed’ homosexuals from leadership roles?”
Raise your hand if you would want to mention becoming the honorary president of a bigot group.
Most fitting, then, was that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell did attend. Well, duh.
TommyOC
The answer to this article’s question is “No.” Yes, it’s that plain and simple.
Obama isn’t the first President to not attend the Jamboree.
Also, that Philadelphia rent-free thing? That’s small fries compared to this little fact: The annual National Jamboree is hosted on a military installation, Fort A.P. Hill, and has been historically rented out to the Scouts for the annual grand sum of $1. This is despite the fact that it costs untold hundreds of thousands of YOUR taxpayer dollars for the military to accommodate this event.
If the conservatives complain enough about Obama’s non-attendance, some budget-hawk in Congress would love to point out to them how the American people could save a few bucks…
Jason
I am ashamed of the president for not attneding. I am an Eagle Scout, Pres Bush did not attend due to a conflict, however, he took the time THAT DAY to make a 15 Minute speach to the boys via a video. Obama? Nothing! I was there when Bush’s speach was televised, it was a great speech indeed. The boy scouts ban homosexual leaders for youth protection purposes. A male group, with a gay male leader? you do the math, it’s best to protect the boys at any cost. It is unfortunate that some have slipped through the cracks, but out of 100 Million people that have passed through scouting, and only a handfull of incidents, the percentage is low. In fact you more likely to have sex with your math teacher in middle school than get harmed in Boy Scouts.
TommyOC
@Jason: “In fact you more likely to have sex with your math teacher in middle school than get harmed in Boy Scouts.”
You do realize that your statement actually validates that homosexuals in Scouting poses no credible threat to the safety of Scouts, considering their historic association with Boy Scouts and how a number of adult leaders presently in the Boy Scouts are homosexual?
Large numbers of homosexuals work more closely with your children on a daily basis – unsupervised – than your typical Assistant Scoutmaster ever will.
One more thing: the majority of child abusers, in Scouts or not, are married heterosexuals and often with children themselves… so it’s not like you can sniff them out by asking their sexual orientation.
“Youth protection purposes…” Whatever, dude.
Oh… and Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of the Boy Scouts, for the uninitiated) has written in some detail about his professed love for the male form… so there’s that.
rainbowharold
Why would the Prez want to be linked with a homophobic, anti-marriage equality group? The Mormons need to pack up the BSA and head back to Utah.
Ken S
@Jason: And I was a Wolf Cub (albeit Canadian, and I think there might be different policies here, even ~20 yrs ago), and knowing what I do now about the Scouts organization’s discriminatory practices I don’t feel any sympathy for them not making it on the presidential dance card.
Life lesson, boys: you will *not* always be liked, nor humoured, nor pandered to regardless of your conduct. If you are- for instance- a homophobic fuckwit (singly or collectively as an institution), then sooner or later you’re going to run afoul of people who aren’t, who will say “maybe everyone you’ve met up until now smiled and shook your hand and acted like they were fine with your being a bigot- and maybe they were, even- but I’m not going to.”
But that’s all taking the optimistic view that he ‘snubbed’ them in a deliberate and *principled* way. I figure it was more likely that he calculated he’d get deeper market penetration for his message on The View.
Sid
I was a gay atheist Boy Scout once. I don’t remember ruining my troop forever—I guess I wasn’t trying hard enough.
A.G.
Although they cannot state it publicly, it is my understanding that quite a number of leaders at the Jamboree were actually relieved when they heard the president would not be appearing.
Supposedly, at recent jamborees, the scouts had to sit for hours awaiting the president’s arrival, and they were not even allowed to have a bottle of water. Apparently, this was a secret service directive and had nothing to do with politics.
Dawson
Celebrating 100 years of a hate group that trains future members of other hate groups to be intolerant of religious difference and gays but to be very tolerant of your “very straight” scout master that just wants to put his hands down your pants is not exactly something I would want to be present for.
Dawson
@Jason: You are a moron. It is a PROVEN fact that most child molesters self identify as “straight” no matter what the sex of their victim is. They prey on the child who is most convenient. You are also very ignorant if you believe every single case has been reported. Its much more frequent and predominant then you know of. Do you honestly believe that each of those cases involved a gay predator? That is just ridiculous. Seriously, you need to do some research and stop thinking out your ass. Asses are designed for much more pleasant purposes.
shlong
@Dawson: You show a lot of ignorance about the Scouts. Maybe gay men like you are insecure about organizations like the Scouts who are the epitome of what guys are aspired to be–strong, leaders, ethical, handy, active, athletic, and tough. Many of the nation’s successful people were taught important character traits by the Scouts. Contrary to popular belief, the Scouts are not preoccupied with politics of sex education for children; they are busy teaching them team work and how to start a fire with no matches.
Obama and his narcissistic instinct will use any situation for self promotion. “The View” is his base where he is most comfortable, but the Scouts is remote to him as it’s mainly a conservative/Republican base. That’s why he chose to ignore the centennial celebration of the Scouts.
tjr101
@shlong: And might I add it was a wise choice by the president!
ewe
Obama does NOTHING to promote the rights of gay people with HIS SIGNATURE. That is what counts. He is all talk and all talk is about as significant as all of us commenting on this site. It means little.
ewe
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/94.html
ewe
@shlong: I left the scouts after tasting the shitty hot chocolate on a camping trip. It was definitely not for me. The nerve to serve scolding hot weak brown water. The audacity to expect me to enjoy such crap. Good riddance. As far as the scouts churning out great strong ethical leaders goes, i have to say many gay men were boy scouts as well.
Rob
Read your comments; What a bunch of hateful self righteuos crap.
I usually don’t read the comments from blogs or news articals. Too much nonsence. But one can really see the true colors of the people who the blog is catering to by reading the comments.
The BSA has plenty of twits, just like EVERY group (work, social, religious, political, etc).
One thing the BSA is not; HATEFUL of those that don’t agree with them or kiss their ass.
ewe
@Rob: Uh huh. That’s why a case went all the way to the Supreme Court to ban great gay men from participating in enriching the lives of humanity. Not hateful in the least i say sarcastically. What planet did you drop out of?
counterpoll
Scout membership continues to sharply decline, according to other sites who employ actual journalists. (this site no longer can keep staff onboard).
Parents are increasingly not willing to, or cannot afford to allow their sons to partiicipate in Scout activities.
The world is changing. When might the BSA figure this out? OOOOH wait, they’re controled by the LDS churçh—may be that’s why!
Silver
@counterpoll- the LDS Church? Hmm. That would explain the massive coffee intake by my scout leaders, alright.
The problem with the Scouts stems not from the idea of Scouting or its principles, but rather the ex-military or military wannabes who have hijacked the organization and have been continuing to do so from the 1950s onward. It was turned into an anti-communist camp and has been getting more right-wing and paranoid ever since. But not every troop is bad, nor every council; show me a group to which you can point that is composed of ALL good elements? Not even our own shaky community. The Boy Scouts teaches kids self-reliance, and I’ve seen countless boys who need a hefty dose of that, as they try to navigate their parents failing marriages or financial straits, their own personal development and the pressures of modern life. The Scouts can provide a fun, relatively safe outlet. It’s better to be in the woods than dealing drugs on the street corner, at least in my view. I’ll admit to a bias- I’m a gay, agnostic Eagle Scout.
Montana
Real the “Boy scouts Jamboree”, real? Are you saying he disrespect our boys in uniform?, please. Or is he more focused on speaking to adults (The View) about what he is doing to repair our nation (those boys can’t vote, you know). And so you know (or take a look yourself) Twelve other presidents have skipped the Jamboree, including Ronald Reagan (he missed all of them), Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon and yes even Dwight D. Eisenhower, among others, so, honestly, who cares, I don’t.
Chris
@Montana
“These boys,” as you so call us, may not be able to vote right now, but what does being able to do so right now have anything to do with anything? The important thing is that majority of those 45,000 scouts that were expecting Obama to come will be voting next election. And moreover, what does politics or homosexuality have anything to do with the Boy Scouts? I may be completely ignorant, but I thought the BSA was designed to help boys become men following a moral system established a century ago. The Boy Scouts is not a political agenda run by the Mormons or paranoid conservatives. The BSA is not meant to brainwash its members into the military. And the BSA is not a hate group against homosexuals and atheists! The only time I have ever talked about sexuality in my troop was a government instated program that most public schools have to show as well about Youth Protection. A hate group? What are we supposed to be hating? The only hate I have learned as a Boy Scout is the absence of it – or perhaps a hate of ticks. One must be pretty shallow to think that this organization is doing any of this. Personally, I am a straight Baptist, not a Mormon. I have atheists in my troop, and no LDS comes on their bike with their shoulder bag to tell them any different. We don’t have politicians come and tell us what to think. What we care about is maturity, something many adults in the world apparently lack, and growing up with strong convictions based on good judgment and morality established a century ago before homosexuality was even a real issue! You read the scout oath, law, motto, and slogan and tell me that these are not values to live by. Even if you want, take out the stuff about God and reverency, and still tell me you would not want a nation established upon this code of values. Sure, not every Boy Scout follows these words of wisdom, but not all Christians follow the Bible to the dot, not all Confucians follow the teaching of Confucius to the pen stroke, not all presidents or politicians follow every letter penned from the Constitution. But this organization is trying to help young men (and women) like me (and a lot of people I know and love) to live just lives of service and good will to others. These traits have really been lost in the past couple of decades, and the words “good will towards men” have become almost a joke. The BSA is simply trying to bring this back through the young men of this nation. This is what the Boy Scouts of America is about, not politics or brainwashing. It’s about human courtesy that has become quite uncommon (as I can see simply from reading some of these comments that would “make a sailor’s milk curdle”).
One of you commented that in the past, Boy Scouts at the Jamboree would have to wait hours for the president to arrive with no water, and that those at Fort A. P. Hill were relieved that Obama did not show. Were you there? I happened to be at both the 2005 Jamboree and the 2010 one that ended two days ago, and I assure you, there was so much water. As we marched into the arena both in 2005 and 2010, all you see is row upon row of water bottles. People went to the hospital in 2005 because they were (quite honestly) stupid and didn’t take any of the water and Gatorade that was being handed out to them every 100 yards. Water is not an issue, and the wait – don’t you think 45,000 Boy Scouts could find a way to entertain themselves? There’s always something going on. And about us being relieved Obama did not come, I assure you, everyone I talked to (whether it was a staffer, an adult, or other scouts from literally around the world) wished Obama had shown up. No one really expected him to show up (which says a lot about our faith in the president), but who does not delight in being personally addressed by the president less than a football field away? Bush couldn’t come one day, so he came another. The Jamboree is 10 days, with two events when the entire camp is gathered together. So…what am I missing?
And a final thought about the person who mentioned the cost of renting Fort A. P. Hill. Yes, it’s military fort that was rented out for 1 dollar. But how does this waste “thousands of YOUR [and mine, apparently, because I have a job and pay taxes] taxpayer dollars for the military to accommodate this event.” Let me give you some facts. Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia, is a 76,000 acre facility, of which the Jamboree only uses 3,000 acres. For those of you without a calculator, that’s just less than 4 percent of the entire facility. The rest of the fort undergoes the same military training that it does the rest of the year. All the scouts have seen black hawks flying above their heads, jets booming over them, parachutes creating colorful dots in the sky, all part of normal military training on the fort. And the jamboree fulfills a mandatory requirement of, yes, crowd control! That’s why so many military personnel are active over the grounds, because they’re in training. It’s better to do crowd control at their base than shipping the military to some other big event somewhere in the country for crowd control training, something that would cost “thousands of YOUR taxpayer dollars.” Moreover, do you know how much it costs for a scout to go to jamboree? A little over 3,000 dollars. Do you know how many sponsors helped pay for the jamboree? There were 14 gold level sponsors that helped pay for the jamboree. This includes, but is not limited to, the water, electricity, travel, set up, take down, publicity, ability to host the president, food, supplies, Honey Buckets (or Don’s Johns in this case), and countless other items and activities that cost money. Yes, it only cost the Boy Scouts $1 to rent the less-than 4% of Fort A. P. Hill while the rest of the base continued normal operations, as it does for every government/BSA co-ops. So, now, the government is $1 richer.
So, if anyone has managed to slog through this comment, I hope you can understand what the BSA is coming from one who is in it, not from those looking from the outside in. There are no agendas in the BSA, besides wanting us boys to become mature young men. The BSA is for the experience, friendships, and laughter shared among strangers in an adventure. It is about growing up in a safe environment where one can learn skills not taught at a school, keeping boys away from drugs and crime (not saying that those not in Boy Scouts are into drugs and crime). I believe I am proof positive that the BSA attempts to create leaders out of whimpering children, strong men out of struggling youth, moral citizens out of slandering schoolboys. Not everyone in this organization turns out the way Baden-Powell might have hoped. Not everyone is equipped to serve his country, not everyone follows the oath and law to the letter. But his experience in the Boy Scouts leaves him with friendships earned, adventures completed, and a life awaiting him where he can use his knowledge from the Boy Scouts to his advantage. This might sound sappy in today’s world, but that is exactly why this is what the world needs. Thank you if you read all the way through this. It means a lot to me that I am able to express my opinion and have people read it. This is from my experiences in the Boy Scouts, and I urge you to be any further engrossed in the organization (which actually might be easy, seeing as I’m not one of those scouts that wears his uniform to school every day…).
Gay Eagle Scout
So yeah I’m a gay eagle scout and adult leader who went to jambo. You need to understand that the mormon church uses the boy scout program as their youth program b.c of this they are the one’s to blame for the gay ban. Scouting teaches good values, the cancer on these good values is the MORMON CHURCH! So to hate scouting is wrong, to want to change scouting is so right and remove the bigot mormon church from scouting’s great program.
mariah
Ok, I will ‘do my best’ – since I am a Boy Scout Scoutmaster, to NOT use the vile language the rest of you have been using.
First, I won’t address the cost of the Jamboree, haven’t done the research, but to pick on a fantastic organization based on expenses when the government wastes an incredible amount of money on special interests is ludicrous.
Second, to call us bigots is absolutely ridiculous, plus I do not now, never have, and never want to, have anything to do with the LDS. Yes, I’m Christian, but not LDS.
Our organization has been ruined by a few bad apples. We now have to make sure that there are TWO leader with any boy(s) at all times. For a small troop like ours that is a problem. Not many leaders available. And to say that it is heterosexuals who commit the crimes is also ludicrous. At least it was. Scouts used to be all male. So it HAS to be homosexuals.
Now, I am the least bigoted person you would ever meet, rather sexual orientation, ethnicity AND religious. I’ve dated every religion and color and nearly married a man from Singapore who was definitely NOT of the Christian faith. And excuse teh patronizing statement, even though it’s true….some of best friends are gay. None of them speak the way you do.
Having said that, by your saying male organization shows how ignorant you all are of the organizations. Guess what, I am a WOMAN! Of course, now your statement of heterosexuals could come true now, but at this point, as far as I know there are no records of women molesting boys in Boy Scouts.
Yes, we do require a belief in God. That is what this organization is based on. As to the staement of Baden Powell being gay – I won’t go there. Doesn’t matter, really. The abuse that some, although a small group, of sickos molested our children, is a fact. And lots of incidents still coming out.
We aren’t talking about an organization that has meetings in public places, we are talking about an organization that spends weeks with one another 24/7 in wilderness environments. The risk is too great to take.
Even if you are guy, would you want your child to be raped by ANYONE, whether another male or a female?! I think not. Rape is rape – and anyone under 18 it is RAPE no matter what the sex or setting.
The good things that scouts have done worldwide is beyond reproach. We teach our boys ethics, respect for others, helping others, and the list goes on.
When you guys preach what you are preaching, you are just as bad if not worse than those you accuse.
Personally, I didn’t like Obama the minute he spoke – speaks with forked tongue. And I am NOT a conservative except in one aspect – leave my guns alone. Otherwise, I have always been a middle of the road person. But so much crap has gone on, that I am beginning to swing to the right – BECAUSE OF OBAMA. If you think he has your best interests at heart – forget it. You think there is racism and bigotry now – just wait to see what he has planned. And I’m talking about what he has said outright – not anything that I am imagining.
Ok, you guys went on a rant. It’s my turn.
Bottom line – my belief is that anyone can be any sexual orientation they want as long as they don’t push their beliefs on anyone. Organizations have the right to specify what ethics they have as long as it doesn’t physically hurt anyone (ie: KKK does not apply – they want to kill anyone different – they need to be stopped but then so does believer in Farakhan – two opposites that are both sick).
Jeff
@Jason: What? Since when did all homosexual males automatically become child sexual predators? Heterosexual males are just as capable. Apparently the “heterosexual” “God-loving” priests loved little boys more than the big man up in the sky. You are clearly misinformed and clearly so full of your heterosexual self. Not all gay men will fall in love with you just because you’re such an arrow-straight heterosexual stud. Go learn before you post on the Internet. You’re the one that is clearly polluting our kids with misinformation. You are a bad role model and our boys should be protected from your idiotic comments.