What is the Boy Scouts of America policy on gays?
– It’s hard to determine exactly what the policy is, since it is not stated in the BSA Bylaws, Rules and Regulations, or Procedures for Maintaining Standards of Membership, nor in any leader manual or handbooks that boys and parents use, nor in any training course syllabus, nor on any application. The earliest written record was in an internal memo dated 1978; it first reached public attention when Tim Curran sued the BSA in 1980; and it was discussed in Scouting magazine twice only in 1992. It appears in various briefing and position papers for BSA internal use only. The closest thing to a National Council or Executive Board policy statement was a request for those who supported the lawsuits to stand. In defending their stance, National Council spokesmen usually quote from the Scout Oath: “to keep myself morally straight” and the Scout Law: “A Scout is Clean.” They state their support of “traditional family values” and leaders as “moral role models.” The National Council Boy Scouts of
