No one is advocating same-sex sexual conduct between Boy Scouts or between scout leaders and Boy Scouts. However, BSA's continuing ban on gay and bisexual leaders confuses identity with conduct.

A few months ago, a young adult friend of mine called me to tell me that he had returned his Eagle Scout badge because he could no longer support an organization that rejected gay scouts and gay troop leaders. He just wanted me, the mom of a gay son, to know that.

We've heard this "good first step" argument before. Although "don't ask, don't tell" was ostensibly an improvement on a blanket ban on honorable gay service members, it came with a steep price, because it portrayed gay people as inferior and a threat to the cohesion of the Armed Forces.

When the Mormon Church officially endorsed the Boy Scouts' new "young gays OK, grown-up gays bad" position, I pricked up my ears. I asked myself, "What does this organization have to gain from it?" Simply put: everything.

I returned to Scouts after realizing that by quitting, I had done exactly as that hardened core, which doesn't have stranglehold on my local area, wanted: to purge gays and straight allies of the organization.

Continuing to ban lesbian den mothers and gay scoutmasters is sending a horrible message to American youth, including the scouts, gay and straight. The Boy Scouts of America made this change to take some of the heat off, and no matter what equality advocates hope for, that will happen.

Most of the conversation has focused on the double standard of refusing membership to openly homosexual adults as leaders. However, there hasn't been any discussion about another qualifier in the proposed language -- "alone."

The Boy Scouts of America tries to pretend that LGBT people aren't morally straight. That's the entire basis for keeping us out of scouting. Well, I have news for them: There's a long list of straight people who've been involved in scouting who are not morally straight.

I am a Boy Scout. As a matter of fact, I'm an Eagle Scout. And yet I cannot continue to serve the organization that played a large part in shaping who I am today. Why? Because of whom I love, which apparently negates the values that were ingrained in me during my years of scouting.

The BSA knows that its latest proposal is simply not good enough. Discrimination is never OK! The fact that the BSA has the legal right to deny LGBT people membership doesn't mean that it is morally right.

There may not be an Electoral College for public opinion, but don't insult our intelligence. The Scouts have not had some kind of homosexual epiphany; the only reason they are having this public conversation is because of the monumental pressure that has rained down on them like an unrelenting avalanche.

So a boy can come out as gay, be a great scout and be accepted by the organization but not even think about being a scoutmaster as an adult? And how can a gay scout feel that he is not stigmatized by the Boy Scouts of America when the organization is still discriminating against gay adults?

NEW YORK — Searching for compromise on a divisive issue, the Boy Scouts of America is proposing to partially lift its long-standing exclusion of...

Within the past week, all of this energy has culminated in the relentless pressure being put on musicians Train and Carly Rae Jepsen by gay bloggers, journalists, and LGBT rights organizations to pull out of their performance duties at the annual Boy Scout's Jamboree.

Before my forced resignation from the BSA, I had never been involved in anything. I had never even been to a gay pride parade!

Why, after reaffirming its ban on gay, bisexual and transgender scouts and scout leaders just last year, is the Boy Scouts of America even considering a reversal? Quite simply, its policies have placed it on the endangered organizations list.

Will recently started a Change.org petition asking Nat Geo to add a disclaimer to Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout? stating their disagreement with the BSA's anti-gay policies. I had a chance to speak with Will recently, and I asked him a few questions.

I am now and always will be proud of my Eagle Scout award and my time spent scouting, but I am purely ashamed of the organization that bestowed the award upon me.

What kind of message is communicated by the ignorant and intolerant actions of the BSA leaders? If these youngsters happen to ask questions, how do adults respond? What do their parents tell them?

I've got news for the Boy Scouts and other anti-gay outfits -- policy is personal. And they know this to be true or they would not waste so much time and effort defending the indefensible.