Back in the days when Archie Bunker nostalgically referred to as when “girls were girls and men were men,” America had the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Girl Scouts of America (GSA). While both organizations were founded in an era where the roles of men and women were much more rigidly defined, the idea was that they carried on certain timeless traditions. They not only taught valuable skills, some of which might have become obsolete as society and technology changed, but in the case of the Boy Scouts, the original idea was to teach young boys to become men. Well, as with many other American institutions, not anymore. Scouting in America is just one more institution the left has seen fit to destroy with wokeism.
On Tuesday, the Boy Scouts of America announced that the organization is officially changing its name. They will now be known as “Scouting America.” it is the first name change for the BSA in its 114-year history. The decision comes as the group has faced several major situations, including filing for bankruptcy in 2020, stemming from lawsuits filed by victims of childhood sex abuse while members of the group, and a seemingly ever-present desire by many organizations to cave to the left and be more “inclusive.”
In a statement before the announcement, president and CEO Roger Krone said, “In the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs.” The slide into what has become diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for the BSA started in 2013 when the organization began accepting openly gay members. Despite the many sexual abuse lawsuits brought against them, the group began accepting gay adult scoutmasters in 2015. The final leg of that slide came in 2017 when it was announced that girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts. In 2019, the group was tentatively renamed “Scouts BSA.” The first class of female Eagle Scouts was roughly 1,000 girls.
As might be expected, the Girl Scouts were not happy about the change within the BSA. They sued, claiming that the move created “marketplace confusion,” damaging their own recruiting efforts. A settlement was reached when the judge stated that the words “scouts” and “scouting” could be used by both organizations. But confusion in the marketplace may be the starting place for even more confusion. While today’s BSA offers merit badges for things like robotics and digital technology, it’s camping that remains an essential part of scouting for both boys and girls. The camping environment of learning new skills, camaraderie, and shared experience, is the place where both boys and girls may get their first taste of a brother or sisterhood, of being with other boys and girls, and learning that they are not alone in their place in life. A group of boys sitting around a campfire can openly talk about things that they would never talk about around girls, and the same goes for girls.
The Boy Scouts are simply catching up to the Girl Scouts in the race to see who can become the wokest. Girl Scouts began accepting transgender girls in 2015. It appears the dismantling of not just spaces specifically for girls, but also for boys is well underway, and in the case of girls, it starts way before competing with biological boys in sports. Granted, it was a long time ago, but some of my fondest memories are of sitting around a campfire with my fellow scouts, and the ready-made slumber parties that cabins at Girl Scout camp provided.
Krone went on in the announcement to add,
“It sends this really strong message to everyone in America that they can come to this program, they can bring their authentic self, they can be who they are and they will be welcomed here.”
No, the message it sends, is that the traditions and values that boys need to become men will no longer be needed.