Talks fizzle between Boy Scouts, Unitarians

from The Washington Blade

May 28, 1999
by Rhonda Smith

Long-term negotiations between the Boy Scouts of America and the Unitarian Universalist Association fell apart this month after the two groups failed to agree on what youths should be taught about homosexuality.

At issue was the Boy Scouts of America's Religious Emblems program, which involves awarding religious badges to youths that can be worn on their Scouting uniforms.

In May 1998, the Boy Scouts' Religious Relationships Committee ordered the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) to stop awarding the emblems because UUA officials distribute a Religion in Life manual with the badges that contains Gay-supportive language.

UUA officials have said, “It is not homosexuality but homophobia which is a sin." The Boy Scouts of America, based in Irving, Texas, considers homosexuality immoral and does not allow Gays to become members or serve as Scout leaders.

In April 1999, John A. Buehrens, president of the UUA, said a new edition of the Religion in Life manual would be available this summer that did not contain language that Boy Scouts found objectionable. Along with each manual, however, the UUA planned to provide material that addressed homophobia and religious discrimination.

In a May 7 letter to UUA officials, Lawrence Ray Smith, chair of the Boy Scouts' Religious Relationships Committee, said, “Unfortunately, this simply reopens the entire issue of using boys as a venue to air your differences with the policies of the Boy Scouts of America."

As a result, Srnith said the Boy Scouts is not in a position to authorize the awarding of the Religion in Life emblem to Scouts who belong to the UUA and the wearing of that emblem on Scout uniforms.

In a May 18 letter, published on the UUA’s Web site, Buehrens said that his organization would continue to teach its religious principles. "After all," he wrote, "prejudice, once it takes hold in one's soul and is rationalized against one group, can easily spread to include other objects of prejudice."

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