My sincere congradulations to Pascal Tessier for becoming the first openly gay teen to reach the level of Eagle Scout.
As a former Scout myself (I only made it to “Star”), I am glad to see that the organization is actually moving forward, and that this is something that is now possible.
If only the NFL could be accepting, OH WAIT! Congrats to Michael Sam as well. (Snark off) Seriously, despite the recent changes, I expected the bigotted backlash to keep everyone who even pondered the possibility of being gay so deep in their respective closet, that I am sincerely surprised to see this in my lifetime.
Well Done Pascal.
Please share widely!
…he is probably nearing his 18th birthday, which unfortunately means his orientation is about to become a problem again for the BSA.
He was being interviewed on NPR this afternoon and said that he will be expelled in a few months when he turns 18, which is a damn shame. But give where things were when I was a teenager and just a few years ago, I still think he deserves as much praise as Michael Sam.
If so, they still have a long, long way to go…
I agree, they still have a long way to go.
…but in practice as it had been with orientation, it’s more of a DADT. A Scout is Reverent says the Law. He does his own duty to whatever deity/ies he worships and respects the faith of others, and yes, we were taught in Scouts to respect those of no faith as well. Personally, I don’t mind BSA promoting the practice of religion, but rather than banning athiests, they should just be up front about the religious component (extremely minor, btw) and let the athiests decide whether they are comfortable remaining. I’m more concerned that they still ban gay adult leaders.