As a sophomore in high school, Eric Snyder was about to come out. But then he realized the Boy Scouts of America had a discriminatory policy against gay and bisexual scouts, forcing him to remain in the closet. Even though Eric couldn’t be openly gay, he decided that his Eagle Scout project would be.
Eric explains:
“As I grew older and I advanced through the ranks, I got to the point where I had to complete my Eagle Scout project, which is sort of like the capstone of what you do there. But I decided, ‘OK, I’m gonna do something really, really gay. If they’re not gonna allow me to do anything that’s queer at all, I’m gonna make it really loud in my project.'”
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And with that, Eric comes up with a creative way to use the Boy Scouts to help the gay community — an act of rebellion against the organization’s homophobic policies.
This is Eric’s story:
“I’m from Driftwood,” a collection of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer stories from all over the world,” appears weekends on LGBTQ Nation. For more true LGBT stories, or to share your own, visit “I’m from Driftwood.”
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