What happens when an organization such as the Boy Scouts of America allows inclusion? Well, you get Christian extremists such as Dr. Michael Brown calling for gays to keep their sexuality in the closet, because we gays are contagious. The only other conclusion I drew from painfully watching the debate is as follows: Gay sex threatens the heteronormative culture that Dr. Brown and his followers live in.
Matt Comer, the editor-in-chief of Charlotte's QNotes, an LGBT publication, and a former Boy Scout who experienced discrimination as a teenager, tried his best to counter the hetroextremist point of view. He accomplished this with class, patience and sensibility.
In the video below, you hear a calm Comer explain the dehumanizing experience of being dismissed as a Boy Scout. Comer was kicked out of the Boy Scouts at age 14 after creating a gay-straight alliance at his high school. Even with that scar, Comer respectfully showed Dr. Brown to be factually incorrect on several occasions throughout the small debate. A local Fox affiliate hosted the conversation.
The raw facts, of course, did not stop Brown from charging forward with his bigotry. His reply? What happens in the bedroom should stay in the bedroom. He asserted that the 3 percent of the population that is gay makes the other 97 percent of the population uncomfortable.
Thankfully, the Boy Scouts of America disagree. As PBS reported, "For 103 years, Boy Scouts of America forced openly gay members out of the organization. On Wednesday, that rule officially came to an end.
"The organization voted to lift the ban against openly gay Boy Scouts last May. The ban, however, remains in effect for openly gay leaders within the organization who are 18 and older."
Allowing the inclusion of those in the queer community is a big step forward on the part of the Boy Scouts of America. History will judge them appropriately and with the honor they are beginning to deserve.
Please see the video below: