Well, that didn’t take long. On January 1, 2014, the Boys Scouts of America changed their membership policy to allow openly gay youths to be Boy Scouts. Now Pascal Tessier has become the first openly gay Boy Scout to become an Eagle Scout. I know a great many Boy Scouts and Scouting families who are still saying the new policy will change little in their troops or in the Scouting experience. Think again. When Pascal Tessier accepts the award of Eagle Scout he will do so while waving the rainbow flag of the homosexual agenda. As far as the Boy Scouts of America are concerned, homosexuality is now normal and acceptable for their youth members.
And if the BSA accepts homosexuality as normal for youth, how can they justify their rejection of homosexual adults as leaders? The Washington Post reports that Zach Wahls, the executive director of the homosexual advocacy group Scouts for Equality, is pleased with Tessier’s award since it will aid the cause for inclusion of gay adults in Scouting.
I wrote here of my many concerns about the change in the Boy Scouts membership policy. The award of Eagle Scout to Pascal Terrier suggests there is little room for faithful Catholics in the Boy Scouts of America. He has openly campaigned for the acceptance of homosexual Boy Scouts and continues to push for the acceptance of homosexual leaders. No one is allowed to question the appropriateness of his gay rights advocacy or object to the immorality of professed sexual desires. As an Eagle Scout, he is supposed to represent the pinnacle of moral character. How can a faithful Catholic member of Terrier’s troop attend this Eagle Scout ceremony and sit silently as the gay lifestyle is lauded and celebrated? For there is no doubt that this will be a celebration of homosexuality. The fact that Tessier’s rank of Eagle was featured in the Washington Post and the GLAAD newsletter with lots of discussion of his homosexuality and not a single mention of the service project he did to earn the rank of Eagle is evidence that his award is all about homosexuality and has very little to do with traditional Scouting ideals.
I do not dispute that there have been many Scouts, including many who have attained the rank of Eagle, who have had same-sex attractions. The difference is that in the past they did not wear this sexual preference as a badge of honor. They did not feel compelled to announce it as a defining aspect of their character. They did not seek to force others to accept homosexual behavior as normal. Homosexuality was irrelevant to their Scouting identity.