Taking my stand against the Boy Scouts of America

Below is an image of the letter and badge I just sent back to the Boy Scouts of America. I have copied the complete text below.

September 13, 2012

Boy Scouts of America
National Executive Board
1325 Walnut Hill Lane
PO Box 152079
Irving, TX 75015-2079

Enclosed is my Eagle Scout badge. I do not feel comfortable holding this award because the organization which it represents has strayed too far from the ideals which I embraced while in scouting. This letter explains the two issues that have caused me to take this action. First, there is a dissonance between my experience as a member of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the current actions of the organization. Second, the BSA has made a generalization about morality which is simply untrue.

To be clear, I am not disavowing my award, or the BSA organization. My time spent as a Boy Scout was invaluable to me. I have wrestled with this issue for the last seven years, and I have not come to this decision lightly. I felt it was necessary to take some action, rather than just patiently wait for mindsets and policies to change. Based on the insight I gained as a scout, I feel it is now my duty to defend members of our society from the BSA organization.

As a Boy Scout and leader from Troop 673 from Great Falls, Virginia, I earned the rank of Eagle Scout in December, 1992. The enclosed badge was presented to me during an Eagle Scout Court of Honor in March 1993. I spent nearly six of my most valuable and formative years as a Boy Scout, and after earning Eagle I served my troop an additional year and a half as assistant scoutmaster. I was selected as a Patrol Leader before I started high school; this put me in the sometimes awkward position of leading boys older than me. This experience taught me many lessons about how to lead others, including: 

• Making the differences between people fade into the background so we could work together
• Looking out for, and supporting individuals who are in physical, mental, or emotional trouble
• How to offer help to others without making them feel less valuable

Happily married for the last 14 years, I am blessed with three children including one son, Brian. Since his birth seven years ago, I have entertained warm thoughts of guiding him through scouting – hoping to watch him grow through the same experiences I did, and helping at every turn.

Sadly, my excitement turned to concern and discontent as I learned of the discrimination which is currently practiced organizationally by the BSA. I was stunned by the realization that the organization that taught me how to bring people together was now dividing people and causing unnecessary pain. In 1991, the Boy Scouts of America issued this statement:

We believe homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the requirement in the Scout oath that a Scout be morally straight and in the Scout law that a Scout be clean in word and deed. Homosexuals do not provide a desirable role model for Scouts.

This statement is as puzzling as it is troubling. It is in clear dissonance with the organization I remember. The BSA taught me how to see through our differences, how to help others, and helped set my moral compass.

While I am not a homosexual, in both my personal and professional life I count homosexual men and women as some of my closest friends. I have never experienced anything which would lead me to believe that “Homosexuals do not provide a desirable role model for Scouts.” I have known many boys (and men) who were/are not desirable role models, but this has nothing to do with their actual or professed sexual orientation – it has everything to do with their moral character and how they treat other people. Moral character is not based or dependent on sexual orientation.

Homosexuality is not a “disease” which can be transmitted from one to another. It does not cause people to become rapists, pedophiles, or sexual deviants. It is a difference between the way people see and experience love, and nothing else. Homosexuality is not something to be afraid of, and not something that people should be ostracized for. While some religions consider homosexuality a sin, it is not universally accepted as such. The BSA should not use religion as a reason to justify discrimination.

Somewhere between 2% and 10% of our population is homosexual. I know our world would be improved if everyone took the time to befriend a homosexual and learn how to interact with him or her as a person, rather than as someone who is different.

I have been a practicing member of the United Methodist church my entire life; my wife is an organist at our church, and my family is involved in many ministries and attends worship regularly. The United Methodist church has a resolution called “Opposition to Homophobia and Heterosexism” which states:

Therefore, be it resolved, that The United Methodist Church strengthen its advocacy of the eradication of sexism by opposing all forms of violence or discrimination based on gender, gender identity, sexual practice, or sexual orientation;

Through participation in Bible study and prayerful consideration of the will of God in my life, I find it difficult to understand why any organization which claims a Duty to God and professes to uphold the teachings of Jesus could act in a discriminatory manner toward any of God’s children. As it reads in Matthew 22:37-40,

[Jesus] said to him,’ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

I took an oath as a Boy Scout which was repeated as a centerpiece of the Eagle Scout court of honor. On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. To comply with this oath and do my duty to God, I believe that I need to uphold this commandment. It is God’s will that we love our neighbors as ourselves – which means we must not discriminate, marginalize, or otherwise look down upon our brothers and sisters.

I am conflicted between the experience of my reality and what strikes me as a faulty and misaligned position of the BSA. The current position is born of ignorance and popular pressure instead of honoring what scouts learn and practice in their lives. How can I continue to honor God and align myself with BSA with this hurtful and morally repugnant position in place? It is, ironically, my duty as an Eagle Scout to help other people at all times and therefore to defend homosexuals against the hateful actions of BSA.

I look forward to the day when the BSA restores the honor of my Eagle Scout badge by reversing its membership policies and official statements regarding homosexuality. On that day, please return my badge to the address below.

Sincerely,

Peter M. Hesse
Eagle Scout, Troop 673, March 1993