What next, Boy Scouts?

Last updated on: January 31, 2017 at 9:50 am by Jane the Actuary

What next, Boy Scouts? 2017-01-31T09:50:45-06:00 Jane the Actuary

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By David Fine (This image is from the FEMA Photo Library.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Was it inevitable?

The Chief Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, Michael Surbaugh, announced yesterday that transgender children will be allowed to register as Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts based on their parents’ declaration on the registration forms that the child is a boy.

The article on CNN.com places this in the context of an 8 year old child, Joe Maldonado, who was rejected from Cub Scouts because, though identifying as a boy, this child was born a girl.

Is this right? Is this wrong? In terms of the the objectives of Cub Scouting, and the reason for the separation by sex, it’s probably perfectly fine — if this child presents as a boy, and interacts with the others as a boy, and, let’s face it, has the maturity level of a boy. But that Cub Scout will become a Boy Scout, and the entire point of Boy Scouts is to go on outings, where boys share tents or cabins and changing space. So far as I can tell, there is no guidance about what to do in such a case — and perhaps this is so because, unlike the questions of gay youth or gay leaders, this came out of nowhere. Remember, I’m a Scout mom, and a Cub Scout committee chair, and the wife of the Scoutmaster. I think I’d know if there was even an inkling, but there was, so far as I can tell, no consultation of the membership at all.

And unlike the question of gay leaders, there appears to be no opportunity for individual chartered organizations to exercise any discretion.

What’s more, I suspect it won’t be long before a, let’s say, girl-identifying girl and her parents decide that there’s no harm done in checking the “boy” box. The signature box doesn’t even require the signer to affirm that the information provided is true, and the statement of the policy says nothing further than “based on the gender identity indicated on the application.”

Yes, I know that the BSA has lost lots of funding ever since their membership policies became an issue. I know that they’re trying to get back into everyone’s good graces. But this top-up decision seems about as well-thought out as a Trump executive order.

Image: By David Fine (This image is from the FEMA Photo Library.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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