Openly gay scouts, but not gay leaders

The Boy Scouts of America today, Thursday May ended its policy of denying membership to openly gay youth. The decision followed years of internal debate and has been seen as a milestone for the Boy Scouts of America. 

1,400 leaders from across the country voted, with 60 percent approving the measure that states that no youth can be denied membership “on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”

Top leaders of the Scouts had pursued the monumental change in admission statues while conservative leaders of scouting and right wing parent threaten to withdraw from the organization.    

The decision put scouts in tune with public acceptance of homosexuality, especially among younger supporters currently being courted by the organization as numbers of enrollment fall to all time lows. 

Now the question seems to be, "As boys mature and reach the age of 18 -- legal age as an adult, will they be asked to leave the scouting organization?

Gay rights advocates have vowed to encourage the scouting organization to allow gay members of all ages.

Many conservative organizations claim that gay scouts will be violating the oath to be “morally straight.”

Robert Schwarzwalder, senior vice president of the Family Research Council, who is a conservative Christian group and a father of two scouts in Northern Virginia stated regarding the future of the BSA, “I think there will be a loss of hundreds of thousands of boys and parents.” 

Where does the LDS church stand on the issue?  Will the LSD church back out of scouting because the national organization is allowing gay youth?  I believe they will not.  It would seem consistent with the teachings of the institution to allow those with homosexual inclinations to remain as members of the church in full standing, as long as they obey the law of chasity -- probably easier to do up to the age of 18.

What do you think?  Feel free to comment...