Can A Scout Be Gay?

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But the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas, is controlled by another faction in the debate, those for whom "morally straight" definitely means sexually straight. In recent years, members of the Mormon church have become a powerful force within scouting. Today nearly 10% of the members of the Boy Scouts Advisory Council live in Salt Lake City, Utah, home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Latter-day Saints constitute less than 2% of the U.S. population but 21% of the boys in the core Boy Scouts program, more than any other group.

The Latter-day Saints have been instrumental in helping defeat pro-gay initiatives in at least three states. In 1995 Jack Goaslind Jr., a prominent church member who currently sits on the Scouts advisory council, said the church "would withdraw our charter membership" if scouting were required to admit gays. Moreover, in the Dale case, most major conservative groups in the U.S., from the Family Research Council to the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, have sided with the Scouts.

But the most wrenching internal controversies for the Scouts have involved gay boys, not gay leaders. Local scoutmasters routinely allow boys who come out to remain in scouting, though if headquarters finds out, locals risk losing their charter. In August a 16-year-old eagle scout applied for a job at Camp Yawgoog, a Boy Scout retreat 30 minutes west of Providence, R.I. Camp director Gary Savignano, reeling from a recent pedophilia scandal, asked the boy if he was gay. When the boy said yes, Savignano told him he couldn't have the job.

A sit-in ensued, and someone eventually pointed out that Rhode Island has a law against anti-gay discrimination. The local Scout council issued a statement offering the kid the job. But when the men at Scout headquarters heard about the controversy, they had spokesman Gregg Shields confirm that the boy can't be a scout if he is gay. The local council quickly backtracked, reaching an uneasy compromise with headquarters: the boy kept the job--and his scouting membership--but he had to agree not to talk about being gay. Since then, the United Way and other funders have been under pressure to stop donating to the Scouts.

Most such skirmishes are on hold as everyone waits for the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the Boy Scouts try to remain an organization where no one talks about homosexuality in an age when everyone talks about it.

--With reporting by Leslie Everton Brice/Atlanta, Wendy Cole/Chicago and William Dowell/Camp Yawgoog