At least six Eagle Scouts from across the country have returned their Eagle Scout medal to the Boy Scouts of America in response to the organization’s refusal to reverse its long-standing policy against gay scouts and gay and lesbian scout leaders.
Rob Breymaier, an Oak Park, Ill., resident, and Dr. Mark Varnum, from Bangor, Maine, are the latest Eagle Scouts to return their medals in protest of the BSA anti-gay policy.
Breymaier said he has lost hope that the 102-year-old organization would “do the right thing.”
“I could always explain away that it was an old policy and that sooner or later, we’ll be able to force a vote on the issue,” Breymaier told the Chicago Tribune. “But when this vote happened and they reaffirmed the policy, it was just too much. It was infuriating, embarrassing and upsetting.”
In a letter Monday to the Boy Scouts’ national executive board, Varnum enclosed his Eagle Scout medal, which he earned as a 16-year-old in Presque Isle, his Bronze Palm award, which is granted when a Scout attains merit badges after attaining the rank of Eagle Scout, and two advancement medals.
“As an Eagle Scout, I can’t stand by and watch an organization that I care about act in a manner that is discriminatory,” Varnum said. “You’re taught in Boy Scouts to be on the side of those that are being bullied, not be on the side of the bully.”
On July 17, the Boy Scouts of America reaffirmed its anti-gay policy, and said it had completed a confidential two-year review, which determined that the ban was “absolutely the best policy” for the Boy Scouts.
Rob Breymaier
Breymaier, who put his medal in the mail on July 27, said he spent 10 years as a Scout in his native Toledo, Ohio, and another 10 years as an adult leader of the same troop. As a leader, he said he never enforced the anti-gay policy.
Jackson Cooper, a former senior patrol leader of the Louisville, Ky., BSA Troop 342, said in a letter submitted with his Eagle Scout medal that he thinks the decision has damaged the organization’s reputation, and is damaging to gay youth.
“As they come of age and come to realize their sexual orientation, I can only imagine what kind of effect that would have to be told there’s something wrong with them and they’re not welcome in that organization,” he wrote.
Jackson Cooper's letter to the Boy Scouts of America.
Also frustrated with BSA’s exclusionary policy, Leo Giannini, a native of Pittsfield, Mass., returned his Eagle Scout medal, and said that he’d like to see the organization take a formal poll of its members and determine if a majority really does support the ban on gays.
“I just want a realistic assessment of popular opinion here,” said Giannini. “We are at an important turning point for the Boy Scouts of America. I understand where they’re coming from, but I think that they are lagging historically.”
Chris Baker, an engineer in Minneapolis, said he decided to turn in his badge last Friday after spotting a Facebook post from a fellow scout who did the same.
“I said, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s drown them with returned Eagle Scout medals to show them they are wrong,’” Baker said. “I was taught that a Boy Scout stands with those being persecuted, and not with the persecutor.”
Among the first to return his medal in protest was Portland, Ore., resident Martin Cizmar, who explained in his letter dated July 19, that although he is not gay, but he cannot support an organization that excludes gays.
Martin Cizmar
“It was really the defining thing of my childhood,” said Cizmar, now the arts and culture editor at Willamette Week in Portland. “I’ve taken it with me everywhere that I’ve lived and everywhere I’ve been. It was something that I cherished a lot.”
“I can only hope that someone inside the BSA has the courage to fix this policy before the organization withers into irrelevance,” Cizmar wrote. “I don’t want to be an Eagle Scout if a young man who is gay can’t be one, too. Gentlemen, please do the right thing.”
Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, an LGBT advocate who was raised by same-sex parents and is now co-founder of Scouts for Equality, said he was not aware of any coordinated effort to return medals in protest.
“It speaks volumes about the passion people feel toward this issue,” said Wahls. “There’s an incredible amount of work that goes into earning an Eagle Scout badge. It means more to me than my high school diploma.”
Breymaier told the Chicgao Tribune that he won’t allow his 8-year-old son to re-enroll in Scouting this year because of its anti-gay policy. He would like to start his own local group that can impart Boy Scout values without excluding anyone.
“Scouting, by its very nature, is meant to encourage character building and to teach leadership,” Varnum added. “In my opinion, you can’t be a leader and you can’t teach character if you’re going to discriminate against other people.”
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GOOD!!
its only the young eagle scouts that will do it the older ones wont return them
The latest numbers are in 60 and counting…
Eric Ray … (1990) Returned Aug 26th 2000
John Lawson … (1973) Returned July 17th
Andrew Reinhard … (1986) Returned July 17th
Jim Morrison … (?) Returned July 18th
Terry M. Perlin New York (?) Returned July 18th
Sean McPherson … (1994) Returned July 18th
Martin Cizmar Ohio (1998) Returned July 19th
Leo A. Giannini Massachusetts (2005) Returned July 19th
Julie Praus North Dakota (1976) Returned July 19th
“Papagoose” … (1987) Returned July 20th
Jeff Hess … (?) Returned July 21st
Curtis J. Markham California (1994) Returned July 22nd
Peter Straub New York (1967) Returned July 22nd
Sean Leavitt Utah (1989) Returned July 22nd
Andrew Stanton … (1998) Returned July 23rd
Robert Paxton Wisconsin (1988) Returned July 23rd
Tyler Mark Palmer Idaho () Returned July 23rd
Christopher Baker … (1997) Returned July 23rd
Mark Dooley Washington (1981) Returned July 23rd
Rob Tornoe New Jersey (?) Returned July 23rd
Dr. Zachary Maichuk … (?) Returned July 23rd
Jackson Cooper Kentucky (?) Returned July 23rd
Ben Howe … (2002) Returned July 23rd
Kee Nethery … (?) Returned July 23rd
Ian Birnbaum Texas (2002) Returned July 24th
Dustin Lee Oklahoma (?) Returned July 24th
Matthew Munley Illinois (2002) Returned July 24th
Karl Best … (1975) Returned July 24th
William Lynch Ohio (1993) Returned July 24th
Douglas Woodhouse New York (1999) Returned July 24th
Barry Furns … (1964) Returned July 24th
Stentor Danielson Pennsylvania (1998) Returned July 25th
Nicholas Berte Iowa (?) Returned July 25th
Robert Ross … (2005) Returned July 25th
Matthew J Wright New Jersey (?) Returned July 25th
Harry Nelson … (1997) Returned July 25th
Karl Lang Pennsylvania (1970) Returned July 25th
Michael B. Stansbury Washington (1995) Returned July 25th
Matthew Hallion Massachusetts () Returned July 25th
Steven Diamond New York (1986) Returned July 25th
Amelie E. Koran Pennsylvania (1993) Returned July 25th
John G. Munley Illinois (2006) Returned July 25th
Kevin McCarthy Connecticut (1982) Returned July 25th
Rob Breymaier Ohio (?) Returned July 25th
Joel A. Beatty MD Florida (1979) Returned July 26th
Peter Grossman California (1975) Returned July 26th
Chip A. Noon New Hampshire (?) Returned July 26th
Frank Clarkson North Carolina (1978) Returned July 26th
Anonymous … (2007) Returned July 27th
William R. O’Neill Florida (1998) Returned July 27th
Luke Stevens … (2008) Returned July 27th
George Suarez … (1984) Returned July 27th
Brandon Balontti Pennsylvania (?) Returned July 28th
Matthew Hitchens … … Returned July 29th
David Carr Ohio (1969) Returned July 29th
Sean Blakey Washington (1994) Returned July 30th
Max Brantley Arkansas (1965) Returned July 30th
Andrew White … (2007) Returned July 30th
Vance A. Sloan North Carolina (1993) Returned July 30th
Allen Johnson North Carolina (2010) Returned July 30th
hot damn!
The times they are changing!
so male to females can join the girl scouts but gays can’t join the join the boy scouts? I do not wanna live on this planet anymore
That is so great. <3
Good for them! Boy Scouts are so wholesome by nature. Way to take a stand for what’s right!!!
If I could I whould return mine
THOSE SCOUTS WILL GROW UP TO BE CARING, THOUGHTFUL MEN. GOOD FOR THEM.
The scouts aren’t bad. It’s the national committee that needs to wake up. Most scouts really don’t care who someone is attracted to.
It takes great courage to do what’s right in the face of those who tell you they know better. Thank you, young men, for being the bravest of all, real men of courage, honor and valor.
I’m gay and an Eagle Scout/ Vigil Honor member. I’ve seen straight married men lose everything because some pissed off kid made up bs stories about him. I think scouting made the right decision. All the adults I know ask me all the time to come back, but I never will. Not because of the no gays ruling, but the last thing I need is some snot nosed kid destroying my great life because he’s mad at me for doing my job.
Bravo Men! You are no longer “Boys” you made adult decisions and knew what the consequences of your actions would be. I applaud you! (I am standing and clapping!)
This is so sad. These men worked hard to get their medals. I respect their decision to return them, but hate they earned them in such a narrow-minded organization.
I salute these guys….hooray to them for making a stand against a bigoted, out-dated organization. Bring them into the present world…congrats!! <3
I applaud this young men..It is sad that they worked so very hard to earn EAGLE SCOUT………
We need a LOT more than that!
that’s GREAT….@ Darren: it’s a GOOD start, imo…..i agree, we need MORE to do the same…..i think, it needs to go a step further….they need to SPEAK PUBLICALLY about this and WHY their doing it…..jmo.
Good!! :)
Patrick Smith, I’m confused, why does not allowing gay men or boys to participate in the Boy Scouts make it less likely that “some straight men” will get their lives ruined by false allegations?
i really wish they would change their policy, it sucks not helping out the organization cause of politics.
I’m An Old Eagle Scout From The Inland Empire Council…And Still Proud Of My Accomplishments I Achieve In My 13 Years Of Scouting
Very sad for those guys. They work so hard to become Eagle Scouts then realize the organization sponsoring it didn’t really mean the principles they espoused. Very sad.
60+ Eagle Scouts have returned their badges, and many more have dropped out of the BSA
Be careful who you discriminate against. It might be someone you thought was on your side!
And Ain’t About To Give Up My Medals & Patches…From The Time I Was In Cub Scouts Until I Was An Assistant Scoutmaster…!!!. But I Gave Up On Scoutin’ When All The Other Assistant Scoutmasters TurnedOn Me Because They Assumed I Was Gay…Only If They Knew I’m A Trans Lesbian Cowpuncher And Proud Of It…!!!.