Something happened to the Boy Scouts of America awhile back that reminded me of the zombie-ish movie "28 Days Later".
In the movie, our hero Jim and his friends are looking at a tunnel - a dark tunnel - that will take them to the other side of a river. Or they could look for a bridge instead.
When one of them advocates going in - where there are no doubt dozens of zombies - Jim says, "No, no. No, see, this is a really (bad) idea. You know why? Because it's really obviously a (bad) idea."
Jim used a swear word instead of saying "bad", but his point was valid. We've all seen a horror movie where it's patently obvious that to do X is going to lead to a horrible result, and it's the easiest thing in the world to not do X - yet then, I guess to make the movie entertaining, they do X anyway!
That's great for movies - not so great for real life.
What did I see in the news that reminded me of that? Oh, yes. A release from the Boy Scouts of America where they will now officially be letting in openly gay men into positions of leadership, including, of course, taking groups of 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 year old boys/men into the woods.
And I feel as Jim did, looking into that eerie tunnel. No, no. No, see, this is a really bad idea. You know why? Because it's really obviously a bad idea.
Those are my words now. They need no quotation marks.
Let's clear something up, first. I don't think that just because a person has any inclination or orientation to engage in homosexuality that it automatically makes them a pedophile. It does not. Homosexual men are mainly attracted to other homosexual men, and in about the same percents as heterosexual men are attracted to adult heterosexual women.
But we aren't talking about "children" as in pre-adolescents. We're talking about boys and girls who while very immature still, are sexually adults. Boys and girls who have reached puberty, and are capable of the act physiologically, but not ready for it psychologically/emotionally.
And just as it would be inappropriate for I, a heterosexual male, to lead a troop of 16, 17 and 18 year old young women out into the woods, it is also inappropriate for a homosexual adult male to lead a troop of 16, 17 and 18 year old young men out into the woods.
Or, for that matter, 12 to 14 year old girls. Or 12 to 14 year old boys. See, the thing isn't really to parse numbers and give puberty tests to each kid, it's just to have a general - and obvious - rule applied to EVERYONE who is taking kids out into the woods.
One great rule should be - "Anyone who is busy fighting a years long million dollar legal action for their 'right' to take other people's kids into the woods against their will should NEVER be allowed to." I mention that in passing as there have been suits on this issue, and I find them "obviously" distasteful.
A more general and obvious rule is that adults don't need to go off into the woods with immature "adult-ish" kids who they are potentially attracted to and in a power position over. All history has taught us this. Never has there been any situation - from the Catholic Church to Public Schools to - oh, yeah, even the Boy Scouts - where the violation of that OBVIOUS rule has not led to trouble.
This is NOT even a gay thing. I don't want heterosexual men taking Girl Scouts into the woods, and yes, I know that most of those men have no desire to have sex with the 14 to 18 year old set. But children are precious, and if we can't eliminate all dangers, we can at least minimize them, and one way is to pair adult heterosexual women with younger women, and adult heterosexual men with younger men.
In the meanwhile, as of this writing, local sponsoring organizations - like churches - can still refuse to have openly gay leaders taking boys into the woods.
For now.
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