Welcome to “Scouting America”.
Bah. Humbug. I left the organization in 2020 after 40 years of service. I was an OA member for 34 years, Vigil Honor for 25. An Assistant Scoutmaster for a while, briefly a Scoutmaster, district committee member and commissioner staff for a long time, and did other things as well. Scouter’s Training Award, Scoutmaster Training Award, Commissioner Arrowhead, District Award of Merit, etc.
I put up with what I thought of as the evisceration of the Scouting program and letting everyone and their gay brother become leaders, then allowing gay Scouts into the program, letting women become leaders, letting girls into programs like Venture and Varsity…but finally they let girls into the regular troops, and that was it for me.
As I say in my author’s bio at the back of most of my books, “Parents – it’s time to find something else for your young boys to do while learning to become men. There are other options. The Order of DeMolay, for one. Check out https://demolay.org .”
In the meantime, RIP Boy Scouts of America. You were a big part of my life. You’ll be missed. Eventually.