Methodist agency wants Boy Scouts to admit gays United Methodist News Service Tuesday, October 12, 1999 WASHINGTON – The social action agency of the United Methodist Church is calling upon the Boy Scouts of America to change its policy of excluding gays from participating in the organization. The governing members of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society issued a brief statement on the issue during their Oct. 7-10 meeting. The meeting was dominated by preparation of materials for next spring's General Conference, the top lawmaking assembly of the denomination. The Board of Church and Society's statement follows a recent ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court that the Boy Scouts of America is discriminating against homosexual people. The board's statement notes that the denomination sponsors 11,738 units, accounting for 421,579 boys in scouting. "While the General Board of Church and Society would like to enthusiastically affirm and encourage this continuing partnership of the church and scouting, we cannot due to the Boy Scouts of America's discrimination against gays," the board stated. "This discrimination conflicts with our [church's] Social Principles." Social principles cited In the statement, the board quotes references from the Social Principles that affirm the human rights and civil liberties of homosexual people. The Social Principles are contained in the denomination's Book of Discipline. The board statement concludes by affirming the New Jersey court's decision in James Dale v. Boy Scouts of America and calling upon the Boy Scouts organization not to discriminate. Opposite position In presenting this statement, the Board of Church and Society has taken the opposite position from the denomination's Commission on United Methodist Men, which expressed its objection in September to the court's ruling. This action by another agency was mentioned during a vigorous discussion of the statement. A proposal to refer back to the work area, for consideration at the board's next meeting in October 2000, was defeated by just one vote. Objections to the original statement included that it was poorly written and that it interpreted the Boy Scouts' own materials out of context. The Rev. Bill Barney, a board member from Glens Falls, N.Y., supported the original statement. During his 47 years in scouting, he said, he had worked with outstanding scoutmasters who were gay, as well as gay young men who had become outstanding Eagle Scouts. He also reported that he had recently worked to have two pedophiles who were heterosexuals removed from leadership. After Barney spoke, board member Ann Freeman Price of Madison, N.J., suggested deletions amounting to about 40 percent of the original version. The resulting statement was approved by about two-thirds of the voting members at the meeting.

Respond to this article

Home · News · PLC Publications · The Presbyterian Layman Online Reviews · Archives · History of the Lay Committee · Feedback · Links