Well done Mr. President

Boy Scouts of America president Robert Gates told the national leadership during the annual meeting that the BSA will no longer revoke charters of units that have gay adult scout leaders. As a life long Scouter all I can say is finally! 

While Mr. Gates didn't say that lifting the ban was the right thing to do, he used the excuse that keeping the ban was not a sustainable plan of action for the BSA. It would have been nice for him to say that it was the right plan of action but he chose other words, I guess sometimes you have to tailor the message to not alienate the audience. 

There will be critics who say this will turn the BSA into a breeding ground for "gay predators". Those people are idiots. No one says that about having female leaders in the BSA. For what it's worth, I read stories about way more female teachers having sex with their students than gay male teachers doing the same. So the idea of a bizzaro gay recruitment agenda is just ludicrous. 

The kind of people who will now be able to volunteer are dads and moms. Former scouts and in general good people. The BSA has such strict policies when it concerns youth protection (YP is the only training that is required of every adult and has to be retaken every other year). Now one benefit will be if parents feel uncomfortable with a leader, perhaps they will volunteer to go on an activity with their son instead of just dropping them off. And they will see that all the men and women who volunteer with the scouts are looking out for the best interest of the scouts. You would think in 2015 that people would know that there is difference between homosexuals and pedophiles. 

Mr. Gates said similar things during the lead up to the military's don't ask don't tell policy. You can't build something up when you exclude a group of people. On a side note I was very proud to read that he singled out the Greater New York Council for standing against discrimination. 

BSA's next hurdle ... Atheists.