Removed lesbian Den Mother petitions to return to Boy Scouts
“She did a wonderful job, and what they did to her was just horrible. When I told my son Jen was kicked out (of the Boy Scouts) because she is gay, he didn’t know what was wrong… He’s just devastated,” said fellow parent Robert Dunn. “The boys knew her as Tiger Leader Jen, not Gay Tiger Leader Jen,” said parent Crystal Sabinsky. “They are only first graders. Most don’t even understand what ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ mean.”
As an Ohio mom’s Change.org campaign urging the BSA to stop discriminating against gays attracted national attention, surpassing 140,000 supporters, the BSA issued a statement to CNN.com reaffirming the policy that led to the removal of Jennifer Tyrrell, den leader and mother of a seven-year-old Cub Scout, and implied that Tyrrell had taught “young people about sex or sexual orientation.”
Article adapted from original press release
04/25/12
More than 115,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org to support a Ohio Den Mother (a parent leader of Cub Scouts) who was forced to resign from her position explicitly because she is a lesbian.
Article adapted from original press release
04/21/12
Young leader, Zach Wahls says, “as an Eagle Scout (the highest rank the BSA has to offer) I am acutely aware of the effects this policy has on families like mine. I joined the Cub Scouts when I was just 6 years old, at the lowest rank on the totem pole: Tiger Cub. The fact that my moms were lesbians was controversial in this conservative, central Wisconsin town of 20,000, but the Cub Scout Pack (the equivalent of a Boy Scout Troop) decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach.
“Two years later, my moms had become a regular presence at our Pack meetings, offering their thoughts and advice. Slowly, the other parents learned that my moms were not, in fact, insidious agents advancing some nefarious agenda; they were simply concerned with making sure their son (me!) had an enjoyable and enriching experience in the Scouting program — and this sounded strangely familiar to the other parents.”
[via HuffPo]
Follow Zach Wahls on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ZachWahls