Boy scouts 'scouting' the campus

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is holding a national conference at the Indiana Memorial Union through Thursday while some organizations are upset over the Scout's opposition to homosexuality.\nOver 7,000 Boy Scouts and adult leaders from all over the country have arrived in Bloomington to participate in The National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC). Randy Brown, scout executive for Hoosier Trail Council, said participating Boy Scouts are expected to develop character, citizenship and personal fitness through training, workshops and sporting events.\nAccording to a recent press release, the NOAC has taken place nine times at IU, including the first conference in 1948. The NOAC is also the largest conference at IU this year and the largest convention since the last NOAC in 1996.\n"The University is pleased that this youth organization selected the Bloomington campus and community for its meeting," said Kirk White, IU special assistant for external relations.\nWhite said the geographical location of Bloomington seems ideal for the NOAC, which includes participants from across the country. Brown said the ease of getting around campus made IU the top choice in selecting a location for the conference.\n"IU has an advantage in transportation," Brown said. He added some participants would come from as far as Hawaii. \n"By being in the center (of the country), more folks can come here easily and cheaply," he said.\nClyde Mayer, NOAC executive director, said the pleasant atmosphere of Bloomington and the cooperative staff and conference bureau at IU also attracted the organization. He said the University meets the location requirements of the organization.\nMayer listed over 125 classrooms, the capacity of seating more than 7,000 people with air conditioning and sufficient athletic fields as the three major conditions for the NOAC to be held.\nAlthough the BSA said the conference's activities are intended to teach the youth how to live their lives successfully and gain understanding, heated debates have arisen as to who can be involved in the organization. \nAccording to the Web site "Scouting for All," BSA is an organization that supports diversity in scouting, welcoming all boys to join. Scouting for All was affiliated with the BSA but is now an advocate group for the BSA to refute its policy of denying admission to gay scouts, gay scout leaders and Atheists. \nBut the Supreme Court ruled on June 28, 2000 the BSA could legally discriminate against those groups. \n"This is a sad situation that both sexual orientation and religious differences are leading to exclusion," said Rev. Mary Ann Macklin, co-minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington. \n"It presents a difficult dilemma for young boys and men and their families."\nMacklin added that understanding can be achieved by sharing each other's thoughts.\n"By excluding gay scouts and leaders, the Boy Scouts are not allowing for everyday shared experiences," Macklin said, who was at Monroe County Public Library for a discussion about gay scouts on Sunday afternoon. "As the great theologian Howard Thurman said, 'Shared experience is how we can overcome differences.'"\nDave Rice, national consultant and spokesperson for Scouting for All, shared some of his harsh experiences with individuals who had been turned away from the Boy Scouts. Rice said he consulted two former gay Scouts. Their adopted son, who was also gay, wanted to be a scout. \n"I didn't have an answer," Rice said.\nRice also said he had faced people who committed suicide resulting from discrimination because of their sexual orientation or excessive apprehension over being recognized as a homosexual.\nAccording to a recent press release, Rice will be promoting the rights of gay Scouts with a free showing of the documentary "Scout's Honor" in the auditorium of the Monroe County Public Library tonight at 7 p.m. The show will be followed by a question-and-answer session lead by Rice.\nThe BSA consistently raises an argument that although it does not condone homosexuality, it does not allow homosexuals in the organization. \n"We're supportive of traditional family values," Mayer said. "We respect that lifestyle, but we have the right to set our own membership standard as a private organization."\nBrown agrees with Mayer.\n"The lifestyle they choose is what we don't agree with," Brown said.