Nearly 20 years following the Boy Scouts of America’s formal decision to exclude gay individuals from being scouts or adult leaders, they have proposed a compromise.  Well, that’s what they’re calling it. 

Last Friday, the BSA proposed lifting the ban for youth members, but would continue excluding gay adult leaders. The proposal followed pressure from gay rights groups and withdrawn support from countless organizations for the BSA’s anti-gay policies. 

The BSA wouldn’t be making a compromise at all; they would still excluding gay members just as they have over the years. Sure, gay youth would be allowed to join the BSA, but only temporarily. As soon as they wish to extend their membership as adult leaders and mentor youth scouts, they are forbidden from doing so. 

The BSA would create an even larger disassociation between what it means to be a youth member and adult leader. Being a gay scout is OK, being a gay adult leader is not. Heterosexual adult leaders may lead and mentor gay scouts, but gay adult leaders aren’t worthy of doing the same. Being gay as a youth is far more acceptable than being gay as an adult. 

Being gay, however, is not a phase.

The BSA’s proposal is a half step in the right direction, marred by its inability to accept that being gay will likely not fade into the past once its members reach adulthood. Excluding some gay individuals and not others is not a win for anyone. Instead, it’s reinforcing and strengthening the fact that being gay is OK, but only some of the time. 

The decision should be all or nothing. Either allow gay individuals membership in any position or don’t allow them membership at all. The supposed compromise is ultimately taking broad exclusion and making it more specific: from not allowing any gay individuals to only allowing some. What message is an organization dedicated to preparing “young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes” sending to our youth? One that is certainly ambiguous. 

The gay community doesn’t need pity or compromise, it desires acceptance. The gay community, not just gay youth and not just gay adults, deserves to be members of the BSA if they so desire. 

Clearly, the BSA’s agenda extends no further than appeasement. Taking 20 years for the BSA to even consider lifting the ban on only some gay individuals is not progress, it’s caving in to pressure. Pressure that has caused companies such as Chase Manhattan Bank, CVS, Intel, Verizon, Google, UPS and even Steven Spielberg, who was an Eagle Scout himself, to withdraw their support and donations.

When the BSA introduces a proposal that allows for gay youth and gay leaders to be members, then we will start listening. When the BSA decides to sacrifice exclusion for tolerance — that’s the real compromise.