Public Policy Statement

Boy Scouts of America

  WHEREAS the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has a written policy requiring the complete exclusion of the all gay, lesbian, or bisexual youth or adults from all Scouting programs and has publicly described gays as "immoral," "bad role models," and "counter to traditional values," and 

  WHEREAS this policy causes alienation and fear among gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth, putting them at high risk for substance abuse, homelessness, depression and suicide, with resulting devastation to their families, and

  WHEREAS the negative stereotypes and attitudes engendered by this policy are detrimental to all youth and society as a whole, and 

  WHEREAS the injury caused by this discrimination and these attitudes violates the traditional Boy Scout values of honesty, friendliness, kindness, and fair play; therefore

  BE IT RESOLVED that the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), an organization dedicated to the support of families, deplores the Boy Scouts of America's publicity stated policy excluding all gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth, leaders, and volunteers from its programs and services. We call upon BSA to change its policy and welcome our children and other family members into its ranks and to celebrate the diversity of the human family.

  PFLAG encourages all of its members who are or have been members of BSA to write to the local, regional, and national offices of the Boy Scouts of America, requesting that BSA eliminate its discriminatory policy. We further encourage PFLAG members to withhold contributions to BSA until such time as it changes its position, and to contribute only to youth organizations which have a written policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and

  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian and Gays strongly recommends that the United Way extend its stated non-discrimination policy by refusing to support financially those BSA chapters and affiliates which continue their discriminatory policies. PFLAG encourages its members to write to their local united Way in support of this recommendation.

Adopted in 1992