Scouts BSA: It's About Evolution, Not PC

One of Norman Rockwell's many
iconic illustrations of Boy Scouts 

Last week's announcement that the Boy Scouts of America will change their name to Scouts BSA in February of 2019 in accordance with its decision to admit girls as Scouts caught me by surprise.

As a former Boy Scout whose father had a successful 25-plus year career as a BSA executive and rose to the upper echelon of the organization, I experienced some mixed emotions at first.

Growing up in a "Scouting family", I was surrounded by the imagery, symbolism, values, accoutrements and traditions that are so deeply embedded into the Boy Scouts' DNA.

From an early age, the latest issues of Boy's Life, the colorful official magazine for Boy Scouts, were always scattered about the house courtesy of my dad.

More than 110 million Americans have participated in various Scouting programs over the years, so it's a good bet that Boy's Life was the first real magazine experience for many boys.

First published in 1911, Boy's Life has featured the work of a number of iconic artists over the years, including illustrator Norman Rockwell (pictured above), surrealist painter Salvador Dali, photographer Ansel Adams and cartoonist Dik Browne (Hagar the Horrible and Hi and Lois).

Boy's Life has also featured a number of well-known writers over the years including  sci-fi writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury - and "Roots" and "The Autobiography of Malcom X" author Alex Haley.   

The excitement of coming home from school and seeing the latest issue of Boy's Life in the mail with my name on the address label on the cover had a formative impact on my love of reading, desire to learn and love of magazines - if you could see my kitchen table and living room you'd understand that love of printed magazines has never left me.

Since the BSA was founded one hundred and eight years ago back in 1910, as the name implies, it's core mission has been focused on the development of character through the learning and mastery of a wide range of skills related to nature and the outdoors ("scoutcraft").

Women have served in the Cub Scouts
as Den Mothers since the 1930's

Instilling citizenship, a core of positive values and a sense of community service are also integral parts of the BSA's mission, up until recently that mission focused upon boys and young men.

But women have been integral parts of the BSA for years, and not just as "Scouting Moms" whose role as the crucial support system behind Cub Scout pack and Boy Scout troop meetings and activities too-often goes unheralded.

In the 20th century, women like LaVern Watts Parmley, Ann W. Nally and Eleanor Parsons Pratt also served integral roles in the expansion of community scouting - which in turn raised the BSA's profile on the national level.

As I learned first-hand when I joined Cub Scouts back in the 3rd grade, women served in volunteer leadership positions as Den Mothers for Cub Scouts, which serves boys (and now girls) ages 6 to 11.

Women also serve as leaders for Boy Scouts which serves boys ages 11 to 18 and also serve as leaders and members of other BSA programs like Explorers (a more career-focused program which was merged into the Venturers program starting in 2001) and Sea Scouts - programs which have allowed co-ed participation for years.

So while it was surprising for me to hear that the BSA would change it's name to Scouts BSA in 2019 and welcome girls as scouts, looking back upon the role women have played as both local volunteers and as executives in the organization, my sense is that the move is a logical one.

A necessary 21st century move whose time was clearly past given that the BSA opened it's ranks to welcome openly gay and transgender scouts in 2015 - and two years later announced that girls would be able to participate in Cub Scouts starting this year.

Sydney Ireland with her older brother Bryan at a
2016 National Organization for Women conference

Since the 1970's a number of different people have lobbied the BSA to allow women to join its ranks.

In 1995 Katrina Yeaw and three other girls attempted to join a Cub Scout pack in California and when their membership application was denied, she took her fight to the California Supreme Court in 1997.

She lost when the justices upheld the BSA's right to establish their own membership criteria, but the proverbial glass was cracked.

Since the age of four, Sydney Ireland (pictured left) has been lobbying to follow her older brother Bryan, an Eagle Scout, to officially join his Manhattan, New York Boy Scout troop.


She's garnered national media attention since 2015 when her Change.org petition began focusing press attention on her campaign - and putting pressure on the BSA to revise it's policy towards allowing girls to be Scouts. 

In August, 2017, Ireland had her op-ed published in the Washington Post, and for anyone who reads her Change.org petition, or her WaPo ope-ed, it's hard to argue against her logic.

She's already been taking part in her brother's BSA Scout troop activities for over a decade, has done the work to earn some tough merit badges (you try doing the Mile Swim, she's done it twice) and wants to pursue her dream of being an Eagle Scout.

Regardless of where you fall on girls being allowed to join the Boy Scouts, you have to admire Sydney Ireland's determination - which helped influence the BSA's decision to begin admitting girls into the Cub Scouts in 2017.

Sadly though, as Camila Domonoske reported for NPR last Wednesday, Ireland will be too old to enter the Scouts program next year when the BSA begins admitting girls.

Scouts BSA: a glimpse of scouting's 2nd century

As someone who participated in Cub Scouts, Webelos and Boy Scouts and had the chance to go spelunking in caves deep under the hills of West Virginia, spend autumn days canoeing rivers in Virginia, or winter camping in snow along the shoreline of eastern Maryland, there's nothing "easy" about being a Scout.

It's an experience that will test you and force you to reach within yourself.

There's something rewarding about that, not just the skills that will last a lifetime.

It's also the internal development of core values and ideals about community, cooperation, citizenship and challenging yourself - things that can't be learned from books.

So if a young person wants to learn those things and have those experiences, by all rights they should have the chance to do so - Sydney Ireland included.

Given the divisive nature of the current occupant of the Oval Office, and his politics of exclusion, discrimination and incessant cultural warfare, there's little doubt that some on the conservative side of the spectrum will view the BSA's decision exclusively as some kind of victory for what some view as the forces of "political correctness."

Unfortunately, in recent years the Boy Scouts have served as something of an ideological battleground for the rightwing conservatives who ignore Trump's myriad flaws because (to them) he represents someone willing to fight the existential threats that unsettle and alarm them.

Ex-Cub Scout Ames Mayfield and his dog

So the average Fox News watcher will view the BSA's decision as further evidence of the collapse of civilized society - and get even angrier than they've been since Obama was elected back in 2008.

The last time I blogged about the Boy Scouts was back in October of 2017 when 11-year-old Cub Scout Ames Mayfield was kicked out of his pack by his den leader.

Why did he get kicked out?

Because he publicly (and politely) confronted conservative Colorado Republican state lawmaker Vicki Marble about her co-sponsoring a bill that would allow domestic violence offenders to own a gun.

Ames' question came about 23 days after the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas so it was entirely justified, but gun lobby supporters in Colorado and other parts of the country were feeling particularly defensive - no doubt they cheered an 11-year-old kid getting booted out of his Cub Scout pack for asking a Republican politician a question.

In July of last year I blogged about the media flap that arose after Trump used an appearance at the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia to repeat more lies about President Obama, and vilify his political enemies while he told a rambling story about being at a party.

The resulting dust-up fired up conservatives who felt Trump had every right to ramble on like a drunken buffoon in front of a crowd of thousands of Boy Scouts - even long-time scouters were divided on the issue.

BSA Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh

I directed some criticism at BSA Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh for what I felt was a rather tepid apology for Trump's reprehensible comments in front of an audience of scouts and scout leaders.

Looking at the decision last week to open the Scouts up to girls, my sense is that Surbaugh and other members of the BSA hierarchy were trying to carefully reaffirm the values of the one hundred and eight-year-old organization - because there's little question their brand (and membership) took a hit after Trump's comments at the Jamboree last summer.

In this age of social media, OTT streaming devices, video games, smart phones and year-round sports for kids ages 6 to 18, the one thing the BSA can scant afford to do is to alienate anyone.

My sense is that the decision to rebrand itself Scouts BSA (kind of a clever take on Scouts USA right?) served a couple purposes.

First, in the age of #MeToo, it affirmed the BSA as an organization that wants to be relevant in the 21st century while still upholding the values at it's core.

Allowing young women to join as scouts shows that the BSA recognizes the importance of the role it can play in ensuring that women have equal access in American society, at a time when that's not always the case in Hollywood and other industries.

In short, the decision shows that the BSA can lead - with some encouragement and nudging from girls like Katrina Yeaw and Sydney Ireland of course.

Second, it opens the gates to increased membership within its ranks by showing the 50% of the U.S. population who do not have a penis that they are wanted, and they are welcomed in the scouting community - at all levels.

Ex-New York AG Eric Schneiderman

That in itself, effectively creates a space between the nonsensical drivel that came out of Trump's mouth at the Boy Scout Jamboree last summer, and the values that have defined the BSA for over a century.

And to the credit of Michel Surbaugh, other BSA executives and the BSA board, the organization has strategically placed itself on the correct side of the road in terms of the #MeToo movement - recognizing that this is a pivotal time in terms of the history of gender equity in America.

A point driven home by the sudden resignation of Eric Schneiderman in the wake of the publishing of the shocking allegations of physical abuse leveled against him in the bombshell New Yorker article by Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow that was published Tuesday evening.

So there will be those who will criticize the BSA for changing it's name and welcoming girls; and that's their right.

But what some of those inclined to be angered over the BSA brand change fail to understand in my opinion, is that the decision to break down a final barrier and welcome girls isn't about "Political Correctness" as some on Fox and Friends might grumble.

It's about evolution.

And as Darwin observed, better to be on the right side of that particular part of the process of natural order - especially when viewed from the vantage point of future generations.

After all, these days the dinosaur is just a fossil in the ground - the birds are still flying.

By putting the word Scouts in front of BSA, the organization isn't just redefining it's membership - they're demonstrating a desire to adapt and survive well into the 21st century.

And I'm betting there are a lot of boys and girls who'll be the better for it.

Vicki's Marbles & Ames Mayfield's 1st Amendment Stand

11-year-old Cub Scout Ames Mayfield

As one of the many people who actively participated in the Boy Scouts of America during portions of their childhood and early teens, I was fortunate to have multiple opportunities to interact and work with dozens of different scouts (and some really cool adults who volunteered as Den Leaders, Scout Masters, Assistant Scout Masters and instructors) while I was a Cub Scout, and eventually, a Boy Scout.

But I must admit I never met a Scout quite like 11-year-old Ames Mayfield of Broomfield, Colorado.

As you may have read, Mayfield has been making headlines around the globe after his Cub Scout Den Leader booted him out of his local pack for firing off some pretty tough questions at Republican Colorado State Senator Vicki Marble during an October 9th Q&A with his fellow Cub Scouts.

By all accounts, the budding journalist caught Senator Marble off guard when he asked her, "I was shocked that you co-sponsored a bill to allow domestic violence offenders to continue to own a gun. Why on earth would you want someone who beats their wife to own a gun?"

In light of the horrific mass shooting that took place in Las Vegas on the night of October 1st, it struck me as entirely appropriate for a young person to ask a Republican politician, especially one who backed legislation that would make it easier for convicted domestic abusers to own firearms, to explain why they would support such a measure.

But rather than offer some kind of reasonable justification for her position on gun control, Marble launched into a diatribe of disjointed pro-gun nonsense that sounds like she picked it off a flyer she found in a trashcan at a gun show in Pomona - [side note: I actually went to a gun show in Pomona a few years ago when I was out in California shooting a film, where I saw, among other things for sale, a framed six-foot color portrait of Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler. True.]

Colorado State Sen. Vicki Marble

Want to get a better sense of who Vicki Marble is, and what kind of political ideology she represents as the duly elected Republican state senator representing the 23rd District of Colorado?

The good folks over at the Colorado Pols Website took the time to provide actual transcripts of the comments she made to Ames Mayfield and the members of his Cub Scout pack.

Click the link to see for yourself, but Marble never actually answered Mayfield's question about why she would support a domestic abuser having the right to own firearms.

Instead she veered off into bizarre comments about how she has a concealed carry permit, how Las Vegas and Chicago are both "gun-free zones" and the need for "crime control." 

But it was her strange analogy about lions and gazelles that makes me honestly wonder about Vicki's marbles, she said (and remember, she's speaking to Cub Scouts):

"When you look at a lion in Africa going after a gazelle, you do not think that the lion should disarm the gazelle, from having his horns and his hooves to protect himself. Do you? Do you think the gazelle should give up his horns and hooves to protect himself from the lion? A gazelle should have the opportunity to protect itself at any time."

I'm not going to get into the question of whether Senator Marble believes that firearms are actual human appendages and not man-made mechanical devices that are manufactured, but that's just one of a number of borderline loony statements she gave to Ames Mayfield and his fellow Cub Scout pack.

She also told them "I've had friends who have been violently attacked and raped, and I also know they were in a gun-free zone...Had my friend had her gun, maybe the rape wouldn't have happened, and maybe the other woman would still be alive."

(Again, this is from the co-sponsor of a bill in Colorado that would make it easier for convicted domestic abusers to own firearms...)

Seriously, click over to the Colorado Pols Website and read her comments for yourself - if Marble had suddenly pulled out her concealed carry handgun in the middle of that Q&A with the Cub Scouts, dove head-first into a corner while yelling "Fire in the hole!!" it wouldn't surprise me.

Marble answers Ames Mayfield's
questions on October 9th 

Last night I was reading through some of the reader comments posted to the New York Times article about this story, and it was striking to hear how some conservative-leaning Times readers actually attacked 11-year-old Ames Mayfield simply for asking Marble a couple questions - about things that she's said.

One reader accused the kid of being rude and disrespectful.

But as multiple news outlets have reported, the Cub Scouts were instructed to prepare carefully written questions for the Q&A, and as Marble herself told a reporter, "It wasn't much different than the questions I normally field in other meetings."  

But if the answers she gave to that Cub Scout pack are the kind she "normally" gives, it's a rather troubling glimpse into right-wing conservative ideology.

Mayfield wasn't the only kid who asked her tough questions, another Cub Scout asked Marble about fossil fuels - her answer would bring tears of pride to the eyes of EPA head Scott Pruitt.


"Fossil fuels are the only thing we have to give us this building." she told the astonished Cub Scouts,  as she waxed philosophic about the wonders of fossil fuel production, "To give us this great landscape out there and all of the tractors and mowers that keep it well and good. And move those rocks - everything is run by fossil fuels." 

(Never mind that ancient Egyptians used a canal system to transport huge blocks of quarried stone over great distances to the Pyramid construction site in Giza over 4,000 years ago...)

It is of interest to point out that according to Ballotpedia.org, Marble serves on the Colorado legislature's Agricultural, Natural Resources and Energy Committee - where she no doubt brings her unique zeal to advocating for all things fossil fuel.

In all seriousness, it strikes me as troubling that a politician and overt NRA flunky like Marble serves as the State Senate Majority Caucus Leader in Colorado.

And frankly the kind of opinionated nonsense she was dishing out to those Cub Scouts is disturbing.

Colorado Rep Rhonda Fields addressing Marble's
"Chickengate" comments

As Colorado Pols reported, back in 2013 "Marble was the voice behind the infamous "Chickengate" affair, in which she explained in a legislative hearing on poverty that African-Americans have a shorter life-span because they eat too much chicken and barbecue."

After her jaw-dropping comments, Marble (who also made comments about Mexican people eating vegetables until they reach the U.S.) went on to say:

"Although I've got to say I've never had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down south and you, I mean, I love it. Everybody loves it." 

Again, as a former Cub Scout and Boy Scout, I really can't recall a year in which the BSA has been so publicly entwined with political controversy surrounding idiotic and inappropriate statements made by right-wing Republican politicians.

As I blogged about back on July 28th, the BSA was recently under fire for having allowed Fake President to stand in front of thousands of Scouts at the National Jamboree and ramble on incoherently about himself and his political enemies like some kind of delusional drunken tyrant.

The marketing director of the Denver Area Council of the BSA, Nicole Cosme told the Denver Post  that the BSA is "a wholly non-partisan organization and does not promote any one political position, candidate or philosophy." 

And yet the Den Leader of the Broomfield, Colorado Cub Scout pack kicked 11-year-old Ames Mayfield out for asking Vicki Marble questions about positions she holds and things she's said publicly.

By the way Mayfield also asked Marble about her comments in the "Chickengate" controversy - she lied to his face and told him the story was made up by the media and that she'd never said it.

Now who does that sound like?

Kicking a kid out of an organization for asking questions strikes me as distinctly Trump-ian, and an insult to the 1st Amendment Right to Free Speech - the right to hold our politicians accountable for the things they do and say lies at the heart of this thing we call Democracy.

At least that's what it says in the Constitution.