Boy Scouts Of America President Robert Gates Wants To Lift Gay Ban
Current Boy's Scout of America Robert Gates called to end its organisation ban on gay adult leaders on Thursday. Gates, a former secretary of defence, said, “we must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be.”
In a statement released on Thursday, Gates talked about his insight about "the social, political and judicial changes" taking place in U.S. regarding law and sexual orientation. He said that the status quo of the movement's membership should not be sustained.
"Our oath calls upon us to do our duty to God and our country. The country is changing, and we are increasingly at odds with the legal landscape at both the state and federal levels. And, as a movement, we find ourselves with a policy more than a few of our church sponsors reject, thus placing scouting between a boy and his church," Gates added.
Gates received positive response from the audience. One of those who praised Gates was Scouts for Equality Executive Director Zach Wahls. He said lifting the gay ban is another step forward for the movement. Gates' speech didn't mention the timeline of his advocacy, but the main goal of his speech is to stress its urgency.
Despite the positive criticisms he received from the audience, some disagreed about his intention to lift the gay leaders ban in the movement. Bryan Fischer, former American Family Association spokesman, addressed his disagreement about Gates' speech on his radio program on Saturday. He said on air that letting gays to be a leader in boy scout is a disaster.
"We know there's a high degree of correlation between homosexuality and paedophilia. Now the world out there doesn't know that...it's no longer going to be 'Boy Scouts of America,' it's going to be 'Gay Paedophiles Scouting for Boys,'" Fischer said.
Watch the video below.
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