Skip to footer

Boy Scout resignation over lesbian mother's removal in Ohio

A Boy Scout regional board member resigned over the removal of a lesbian den mother in Ohio. The Boy Scouts have a ban on gays, and the US Supreme Court has upheld the ban.

|
(AP Photo/DOD, Cherie Cullen/File)
More than 45,000 Boy Scouts salute during the singing of the national anthem as part of the Boy Scouts of America 2010 National Scout Jamboree at Ft. AP Hill, Va.
  • By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Los Angeles Times

A board member of the Ohio River Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America has resigned to protest the ouster of Jennifer Tyrrell, the leader of her son's Tiger Cub pack forced out earlier this month because she is gay.

Board member David J. Sims, a lawyer and longtime Democrat serving on the Ohio County Commission, said he did not know Tyrrell. He learned of her resignation from an email the board circulated last Thursday, did some research and announced his resignation Friday.

"I felt that it was wrong that she was removed as the Tiger Cub leader solely based on her sexual orientation," Sims told the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

RELATED: Supreme Court turns down lesbian couple's suit against Boy Scouts

Sims had served on the board since the start of the year and said he was not fully aware of the policy barring gay leaders – a policy officials cited when they asked Tyrrell to resign April 10 as leader of her 7-year-old son's pack.

In his Friday letter to local Boy Scout officials, Sims wrote: "I understand that this action was taken as a result of a standing policy of the Boy Scouts of America and that said action is legal. However, Ms. Tyrrell's removal goes against my fundamental beliefs of how we should treat our fellow human beings and is, in my opinion, wholly discriminatory. I understand that the Boys Scouts of America is free to run its organization as it sees fit, however, I can not formally be a part of it based upon this policy."

He urged the Boy Scouts to reconsider their policy.

Sims, who has two sons in college who participated in scouting, noted that he, his father and grandfather were Eagle Scouts.

"That is what makes this decision so exceedingly difficult and emotional," he wrote. "However, I know that my father would support my decision."

He said Monday he was not sure whether other board members planned to resign.

In response to Sims' resignation, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America issued a statement from its headquarters in Irving, Texas, that noted: "Scouting is composed of millions of youth members and adult volunteers, in councils across the nation, who represent diverse communities with a variety of beliefs about this issue.

"We value the freedom of everyone to express their opinion and believe to disagree does not mean to disrespect. We'd like to thank this Boy Scout Council board member for his service to youth and wish him well in his future endeavors to serve his community."

Tyrrell, 32, reached at home in Bridgeport, Ohio, on Monday, told the Times that she had read Sims' letter and was "very moved."

"I appreciate him taking such a stand," the mother of four said. "The BSA is releasing statements saying the majority of people in the group don't want gays and lesbians, and I don't think that's true."

So far, Tyrrell said scouting officials have refused to meet with her. She posted an online petition at Change.org against the policy that surpassed a quarter-million signatures this weekend.

"We're still hoping the Boy Scouts will do the right thing and just change it," she said.

___

(c)2012 the Los Angeles Times via MCT Information Services and Associated Press

RELATED: Supreme Court turns down lesbian couple's suit against Boy Scouts

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Boy Scout resignation over lesbian mother's removal in Ohio
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0501/Boy-Scout-resignation-over-lesbian-mother-s-removal-in-Ohio
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe