The Girl Scouts of America is for girls.

Erik- If by " normal heterosexual masculinity" you mean that ridiculous beard in your picture, then yes, attack away.

But James coburn was gay. He was shot after he was elected to the San Francisco city council back in the 1970's

Glad to be part of a society that attacks disrespect and bigotry such as that exhibited by Erik M.

Erik- no way, james coburn definately was gay and shot and killed along with san fransisco Mayor George Moscone in 1978. google it- if its on the internet it has to be true. also, im dating a french model. Bonjour!

Being homosexual IS ok. I am wondering why you are under the impression that someone's sexual orientation affect their leadership qualities.

its too bad that BSA let a bigot like you around children

Such hatred. You sound like an awful person.

why do you think that a gay person will make homosexuality their talking point. Is this the only topic that they are capable of discussing ? Your sexuality is nobody's business. If you decide to wear it on your sleeve, you shouldn't be a leader. Did you feed garbage that being heterosexual is OK to your troop ? if you didn't why would a gay scout leader ?

wow - what an ignorant person. let me tell you something mr butch - there was a young man who made Eagle Scout - was a wonderful mentor and was tossed out in the 90s by narrow minded people like you. being gay is ok - and children are taught homophobia like they are taught rasism by parents that are afraid of something they dont understand - or are hiding something from thier past.

"A homosexual does not make a good leader of young men." How do you know, Wheezer? Have you ever had a leader who was homosexual? How would you know? Ever had a homosexual doctor? Ever been a client of a homosexual lawyer? Ever had a homosexual teacher? Again, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? You and Erik ("normal, heterosexual, masculinity is under attack") are the kind of bigots that have been destroying the organization. The worst ignorance is the willful kind.

I don't think BSA is "looking towawd" homosexuals to recruit scout leaders any more than the schools are "looking toward" homosexuals to hire teachers ...

Most gay men are better role models and offer more mentorship than a lot of our municipal and club leadership. I cannot believe some of the views being expressed here.

Glad to hear you aren't a leader any more, and that the kids have more tolerant leadership.

I sure hope you are not associated with my son's troop, Wheezer.

I sure hope you aren't associated with my son's Boy Scout troop, Wheezer.

yes lovechild - the people who pick and choose what parts of the bible they want to live by are out and boy are they vocal - stupid, but vocal. there was a post going about on facebook - a video about what christ said about homosexuality - it was 30 seconds of complete silence. andwhen you ask these supposed christians about the other passages of the bible - they look at you like you have just made this stuff up - very very funny -

True, but so far the bigoted and ignorant comments are drowned out by voices of tolerance and mutual respect. It wasn't always the case that tolerance had a louder voice than hatred, on this issue, so I am proud of that.

are you really harry finster's love child?

ditto.

After dealing for 10years with the Gay community in New Hope and haveing a Gay family members you are so off base you are on another planet or are you a Homogamy. I don't care if you are Gay or Straight, WHAT I CAN'T STAND IS: Gays Promoting their AGENDA and trying to convince straight people that its the way you should swing to be bi or gay and that your life style is the right one. If the Boy Scouts bring this issue up and accept Gay Scout leaders I will stop my donations and any funding to community groups that condone those views.

Except for the part where there are multiple opposing viewpoints stated, hahaha!

good for you, let em have it!

"but having homosexual leaders" really are you on crack? let me ask you about the "straight" priests of the catholic church who for years just played hide the pedo? i know of a scout, when i was a kid in scouts, who was abused by a "straight" leader - the guy was married and had 4 kids - coached baseball, hunted, fished and all the hetero things that guys are supposed to do - and this guy abused a boy - you point being is that your are as about as educated on real life as a member of the westboro baptist chruch -

so is the catholic chuch moral? the one that help nazis escape after ww2 or the same catholic church that hid pedos in thier ranks and distroyed lives - just curious where your morals come from - just fyi - i know some gay guys that could teach your a think or two about morals

Homosexuality is normal; it is found in other animals. Prejudice against homosexuals is immoral.

Tom, are you referring to all those good moral men of the Catholic Church and that good moral Jerry Sandusky and all those good moral men who looked the other way. Aren't they all heterosexuals? What kind of "normal" and "morally correct" behavior did those, heterosexuals teach those young boys? Yea those macho men and all those men of the cloth who meet your standards sure are swell guys that everyone would want their kids around.

Here is the thing Tom. I and many people know gay men and not a single one of them would ever rape a child let alone even think of doing something so heinous.

As with another leader who professed such sentiments - I am glad your leadership is in the PAST and I hope it stays there. Leading intolerance is obsolete, and won't prepare kids adequately for the future. The cat is out of the bag on tolerance of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., and the better skill is to teach kids to thrive in that universe.

and in what decade are you a throw back to? you sould like the guy who says its a womans fault becasue of the way she dresses - because men have no control of how they act - do you think that? casue in that case i would be more worried about all the men teaching sports to young women - or does that make them lesbians?

Funny, the guy waxing poetic about a normative and intolerant homophobic viewpoint that has been slipping in popularity for decades talks about 'tired' talking points. Fact is (and thankfully), the world is finding the talking points on gay equality far more persuasive than Erik's flavor of hate. Rates of acceptance of gay rights and gay marriage grow annually, with fewer and fewer people taking Erik's cowardly line. What irony.

Erik -

Yeah, yeah - nice try. Hitler slaughtered people by the millions, gays are asking for social, marital, employment, etc. equality. If the gays rise up and start an ethnic cleanse, come back and compare them to Nazi Germany. Otherwise, your comment is massively irrelevant.

The better comparison is the fight of other groups for civil rights equality/tolerance - religious or racial or gender, for example. I can tell you are the blowhard type that talks tough to cover up how threatened you feel when others encroach on your privilege, but that doesn't make you any less a dying breed. Change is here to stay, and if it threatens you then that's YOUR weakness, not the weakness of those who fight for fairness.

I should add - some "flavor of the month" that grows steadily over 40 years until it is a force for change that can't be denied!

You're in denial, honey!

Color me totally unsurprised that you have no rational response! Like I said, dying breed and don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out!

Don't you realize - the gays are LITERALLY like Hitler! We must protect ourselves!

(Sarcastically parodying one of the more idiotic comments by one of the guys that fears homosexuals.)

I have to say, I respectfully disagree with you and I don't think that line of thinking is productive.

In my opinion, a lot of homophobia can stem simply from unexamined privilege. Also from the extent to which a teaching of religious-based intolerance was deeply entrenched in this nation. We are just now breaking free, notwithstanding the retrograde views of some of the bigots writing here. I think some of it comes from cowardice and vulnerability too - some men are simply afraid of being treated the way they treat women. There was, though this is changing fast (hooray) simply a lot of social support for intolerance - racial, gender, sexual orientation and more - as a way of maintaining social roles that are thankfully increasingly seen as obsolete.

I don't think everyone who hates gay people is scared of their own sexuality, though I know that's a view some hold. I DO think they are scared they can't succeed in a world where they are forced to be on a level playing field with others.

Jane -- you make valid points... i'm talking about a more specific definition of "homophobia," (fear of homosexuality) as opposed to hatred or intolerance of gay folk (which, as you point out, can be the simple result of poor upbringing)...

i guess i don't understand how allowing gay Boy Scouts can be construed by anyone (even subconsciously) as a threat to their unlevel playing field... to me it seems like more of a threat to their belief system...

the reason i DO find this line of thinking productive is that if i can get one homophobe to think about his/her own hangups, maybe that person will think even further about their intolerance... or at least maybe they'll quit spouting their hatred quite so much...

and yes, i realize that i may not be too realistic in this goal...

R Mexico - thanks for articulating your thoughts further, they make a lot of sense and I see what you mean. Regarding my 'playing field' comment, it seems to me that the (perhaps unconscious) vested interest in keeping gay boys and men out of scouting keeps them from accessing a group that builds skills and importantly, provides networking opportunities. People who are excluded are marginalized, and people who are marginalized have enormous hurdles to success in business, education, academia, politics, etc. So that's my thinking about how prohibitions like the current BSA rule, keep the playing field unfairly tilted in favor of a select group who may (consciously or not) fear that they can't succeed without those kinds of advantage entitlements.

Erik M - to my mind, their HUMANITY guarantees them equality. If you won't let a gay man or boy even join an organization, you're definitely NOT considering them based on their abilities, rather on their identity. If you deprive them of a job based on their sexual orientation or gender, you aren't giving them a chance to demonstrate their capacity for performance. You've unwittingly highlighted my strongest objection to national rules forbidding gay participation - such rules exclude them based on their IDENTITY and not their performance.

Hmm, sounds like straight men shouldn't allowed to teach children in co-ed schools. Or be bus drivers! And straight men shouldn't allowed to be doctors to female children. Oh and FORGET straight male priests having access to female children. Or counselors and summer camps. (Sarcasm)

Zeus, Statistically one in every ten people are LGBT, which would mean that you (may) have just verbally attacked/ abused five of the children whose parents entrust you with caring for their children.

Parents would do well to interview people who would hold positions such as a Scout leader to protect them from such hate, judgement, and one who would promote such lies such as Zeus about men who are gay.

Well said Earnest. I know that any adult I'll trust in a leadership role to my kids had better be role-modeling tolerance.

Pedophilia has NOTHING to do with homosexuality you bozo. What a stereotypical and ignorant statement to make and it just shows how homophobic you are. Lets hope you don't have any children you are raising to be future bozos. Jeesh!

Because a relationship between 2 consenting adults is no-one's business but their own.

being gay is OK the same way as being 5 '8" is OK, or preferring strawberries to blueberries... it just IS OK... there is no WHY involved...

the more interesting question to me is, why would it NOT be OK??

I guess that I'd have to say that if it is "OK" then how many parents in the delivery room hope their baby is gay? I'd think very very few.

It doesn't matter a whit to me whether my kids want same sex or opposite sex relationships. But if they wanted same sex relationships, I will have anxiety for them at the way some in the world would treat them - including the way some sorry excuses for humanity have expressed themselves in this thread. Society's decision, thankfully less and less acceptable, to mistreat LGBT folks certainly may play a role in many parents' apprehension for their children.

That gay people will have a harder life doesn't mean there's something wrong with being gay; it just means that the hate and marginalization needs to end.

what Jane said... pretty much exactly what my mother told me when i was growing up... the only reason she had for preferring i was straight was that if i was gay i'd have to suffer the slings and arrows of bigoted nutcases like the ones posting here... and that was 49 years ago, btw... as for my dad, i think he's almost disappointed that i'm not gay (sort of joking)... both of my parents (now in their 80s) are heavily involved in LGBT issues, so the idea of a parent being opposed to gayness sounds as ridiculous to me as the opposite apparently does to you...

i know certain Friends of the Neanderthal here will disagree, but this is evolution, folks... homophobia is going the way of the dodo (in more ways than one, though not fast enough)...

Charlie D.: Many people believe that being left-handed is "OK". Are you one of these people who believe this? If so, I'm curious WHY you say it is OK. Seriously, I'm curious.

Charlie D.: If I had to wager, I'd guess that the reason many parents in the delivery room do not hope their baby is gay is because of all the homophobia they'd have to face from folks like you. It's a tough life - being bullied and discriminated against by ignorant people. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Aside from that, I can't imagine why any parent would mind (myself included).

I believe you have heard. Now can you tell us why prejudice against homosexuals is OK?

So, all men are pedophiles?

WOAH. WOAH. WOAH. Men can TOTALLY be Girl Scout leaders. Open your eyes -- we're in 21st century America. As a leader and life scout, I am sick to my stomach after reading your comment.

There is always required to be 2 (3 preferred) leaders at any Girl Scout trip, meeting, event, etc. At least one has to be a woman, and husband and wife do not count. GSUSA requires clearances and background checks for any adult doing anything more than attending a meeting.

Don't talk about things you know NOTHING about.

Whaaaaat!? most men are pedos? So false its funny. Sounds like Wayne is projecting his own dark ambitions! wayne's middle name is "likes em a little"

Word.

Wayne...you have serious problems if you believe your comment.

Mr. Younger, You say that "most men "like" young girls." What kind of freaky stuff are you into! You do realize that any adult who "likes" young girls or boys are pedophiles? Further, you really should educate yourself as you will find that pedophiles statistically are most often heterosexuals.

That website is all that should matter.

Thank you for sharing this.

I don't contradict myself, but I do...

There's nothing contradictory about my statement. I don't want my kids under the leadership of gay people. I wouldn't have a problem if my kids were gay but I also don't want to push it on them. I don't have a problem with gay people being in charge in the workforce, but I don't want them in charge of my kids moral compass.

It's not.

Well said Kristin. You speak my mind on the issue, too.

Totally agree Kristin....I am sure my son would love being involved with the Boy Scouts. However, because of their discrimination policy I could never in good conscience let him participate. I find so many of the comments on this thread disturbing. Who the heck cares if someone is gay, straight, bi, purple, blue whatever....as long as they are a good person, that's all that matters.

Michelle....Where does that comment come from? Do the Girl Scouts investigate whether or not one of their leaders is a cougar? Maybe we investigate anyone who lost money in the stock market, wouldn't want the kids to learn from someone like that!

figures those flaming liberals over at AT&T are behind this subversion...