My Gay Life

Gay Men Rule

This blog is frustrating me right now as the same day I discovered the blog, is the day they announced they were closing the blog. Despite this, the blog still has many posts worth reading, and I suggest skimming the archives before this blog disappears forever.

Earlier this week, I promised I would be announcing a change to my blog. I now have a beta version of this new feature ready. I still have a lot of work to put into it, but before I do so I want to make sure this is truly something I want to do. Yes, I know the interface is currently clunky and ugly, if this is actually used, I will put forth the effort to clean it up and make it look pretty.

I have added a chat feature to this site. For the next week, I will be available on the chat Monday-Thursday from 9:00 PM Eastern to 10:00 PM (01:00 GMT). After a week, I will reevaluate when I will make myself available and if I keep this functionality. You can access the chat at www.mygaylife.net/chat. It is available 24 hours a day, but I will only be available during the hours stated earlier.

During the chat time I will answer your questions (some rights reserved) take suggestions for improving the site, and really talk about anything you want. So let’s chat.

Geek. I bet you were expecting me to use another more obvious word here, but what would be the point. It would be telling you something you already know. Yes, I will admit it, I am a geek. I like to know things, and staying in and reading a book is just as good as good as going out to the bars to me. Not only that, but I am a computer geek as well.

Well, I completely forgot to post yesterday, and really do not have the time to write a post now about this past weekend. Therefore, I am going to post this essay I wrote previously, but have not yet published on Boy Scouts. I also just decided on a few changes that will be coming to this blog, look forward to the gory details later this week.

As many homosexuals are aware in the United States, the BSA has tried to outlaw homosexuals within the organization. This is a mandate that has been handed down from the executives within the Boy Scouts, who happen to be extremely religious Mormons. Although they will argue this is not the case, the reason behind this policy is solely because it is against their religion. And the only way this policy will change is to either oust the current regime of the Boy Scouts of America, or wait for them to quit and get a more liberal group in its place.

I am a gay Eagle Scout and I thoroughly despise this policy. However, I also realize there is little I can do that will change it. About the only thing I can do is raise awareness of this issue.

The current regime publicly argues that the reason for disallowing gay scouts is that they are afraid the scouts would molest each other and it would be immoral. However, the definition of moral depends on ones religion. Although they are few, there are a few religions where being gay and engaging in homosexual acts is considered moral. And as I am sure you all remember from your younger years, you were not going to force someone to do something sexual. One of two things would happen; either you would say no and refuse, or you would make a ruckus and get the adults involved.

In fact, trying to exclude gays from scouting is doing more harm than good to today’s youth. First, it is teaching a lesson of intolerance towards homosexuals. Bigotry is taught at a young age and the Boy Scouts are trying to make bigots. Secondly, most do not realize they are gay until they have been involved in scouting for several years. Now, you are trying to take away a large part of ones life simply because he discovered he was gay. This causes kids to not come out, leading to depression and sometimes suicide. But that is what the BSA executive regime would prefer, over having these “immorals” in their organization.

Next, you go to the issue of banning gay adults to be leaders in scouting. The argument for this one is a harder argument to win with many. Here you have the more valid argument that you are going to have pedophiles molesting these children. And yes, I agree this would be an issue if it were not for the policies the BSA has. There is a policy that there shall never be a situation where it is one adult with one scout. The policy dictates there shall always be at least 2 adults with the scouts. Under certain exceptions, two scouts with one adult in a public area is permitted although they may be separated from the other adults.

So, the BSA has policies to prevent pedophiles from molesting the scouts, why should we allow the risk. I personally, and am sure many others found scouts to be a big part of our lives and I would love to be able to give back what was given to me. Many troops are having issues finding enough adults to help and several have gone under for this exact issue. No, allowing homosexual adults would not resolve this issue, but it would help. It is hard to express how important being able to give back is to me, which is one of the reasons this argument is so weak, but I would love to be able to give back and help today’s youth.