I was in Scouts a one time, and still at least get news letters and the like. Despite being an Eagle and a Vigil, I've taken down my award certificates from my office wall and put them away in a drawer. In short, as a civil rights attorney I can't in good faith display those awards and the actions of the National Boy Scouts have destroyed much of the good will once given to the scouts.
Essentially, the scouts have been hijacked by evangelicial Christian and Mormon groups that provide a lot of the finanical support to the national orginization. They have created a single moral norm that homosexuals are immoral, and cannot be positive role models for kids. (This is different than the no athiests rule because the orginization is at least nominally religious, making it a question absent moral condemnation instead of a "only join if you want to pray with us" situation). The moral decision making directly put the National office at odds with many sponsoring churches (such as the UCC) that don't beleive that homosexuality is a moral evil. Instead of allowing each church or organizationally sponsored troop choose for themselves the moral platitues for their own kids, a standard was imposed that is not universally accepted.
Reasons such as protection from pedophiles is not a real justifiction either because pedophila is often just as likely to appear in heterosexuals. It is a unique mental sickness that does not corespond at higher rates with sexual orientation.
I hope that one day the Scouts will give up their biggoted and extreme ways or at least allow for decisions like excluding homosexuals be a decision made on the local level. Then I'll be proud again to display the achievements of my youth. Until then I'll have to put up with using my knot tying skills only in the bedroom (who knew pioneering could be so fun and useful!).
