Father and son speak for acceptance in Scouting
To many, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) may be a perfect program for young Americans to participate in, but to some, it is an embarrassment to the country and the Scouting association as a whole.
In conjunction with the university’s third Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Steve Cozza, founder of Scouting For All (SFA), spoke at a fund-raising dinner Friday about his cause and his stand against discrimination in the BSA.
One main reason the BSA is a hypocritical organization is its discrimination policy against gay people and atheists, he said.
In his talk, Cozza, a king scout, said he could not see himself staying in an organization (BSA) that discriminates, unless changes are made. The BSA’s discrimination policy contradicts the Scout’s Oath and Law, he said.
“The BSA policy of discrimination hurts both straight kids and gay kids,” Cozza said. “The next time you hear someone making fun of someone else in our community, think about how it feels to be rejected and be made fun of. But most important, don’t turn your back and walk the other way.”
He said starting up an organization which stands up for gay people is not easy. There were death threats and name callings, but all this experience only gave him the courage to keep on doing what he knows is right, he said.
He said the bad experiences only show there are angry people out there who are ignorant and need to be educated.
According to an official brochure of SFA, Cozza quoted the 1998 Boy Scout Handbook, “You should respect and defend the rights of all people.”
He said, “Are the Boy Scouts of America following their own Scout Law and Oath when they discriminate against people who are gay?”
“We must stand together and speak out loud against these flaws whether we are gay or not,” he said. “We are all human beings.
“When the BSA discriminates against my gay friends, they discriminate against me. They discriminate against all of us as human beings. We must not turn our backs on any human beings experiencing social injustices,” he said.
Cozza compared discrimination against gay people with discrimination against African Americans. He said at one time in history, discrimination against Blacks and women was accepted. But as people are getting more educated, the segregation laws were ruled out, he said.
“Things didn’t change until individuals in our society found the courage to question these laws and institutions,” Cozza said. “Things didn’t changed until people began to come to stand against these social injustices.”
For Shane J. Hansen, an Eagle Scout who is also gay, being gay and a scout is not easy. He said he lost interest in Scouting right before he was honored the Eagle Scout award because the Scouting at Preston was wrapped up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Cozza’s father, Scott, also spoke at the dinner. He commended the “Mormon” religion, but also said the people in Utah need to think about the responsibility to everyone and not just some selected people within the creed. He challenged the church “with all the love that they have to look at how their policy and their interpretation of the Bible affects all people.”
The reason he brought up the church, Scott said, is because one of the main fundings for the BSA comes from The Church of Jesus Christ. He said it is dictating policy to the BSA when it spends millions of dollars on the organization.
“It appears that Scouting has been taken over in the last 20 years by religious fundamentalists who have basically dictated policy, taken the Scout Oath and Scout Law, and corrupted both of those documents for their own political and religious agenda,” he said. “It is really a disgrace and terrible for Scouting.”
Scott said one of the main goals of SFA is to bring Scouting back to where it’s supposed to be, a point where everyone is embraced without discrimination.
“The European Scouting Association (ESA) came together and wrote a resolution to the World Scouting Movement in Geneva, saying that discrimination against anyone is not in the spirit of the Scout Oaths and Laws,” he said. “When they [BSA] are recruiting in schools, they should put on their brochures that we [BSA] don’t allow gay kids and adults and atheists in Scouting. We’re just asking them to be honest in their own discrimination.”
In a private interview, Scott said he and his wife are fortunate their kids are taking up their values and beliefs although their son was treated differently in his Scout troop.
“They [BSA] told me that I didn’t have the Eagle Spirit from the things I was doing,” Cozza said.
Although they may be the people who started SFA, both Cozza and his father admitted in the interview they are homophobics.
“When you grow up in a homophobic culture, you’re going to be homophobic,” Scott said. “And the only way to overcome homophobia is to acknowledge that you have it, to forgive yourself for having it, and go out to get to know people whom you’re phobic against, and that’s what helped me.”
Speaking about the future of BSA, Cozza has high hopes. He said the instant change of BSA’s discrimination policy is not what matters most.
“What matters most is the journey and the education that is going on,” he said.
SFA was organized by Cozza, his father and Dave Rice about 5 years ago when Cozza was only 12 years old.
“Our diversity gives us strength,” Cozza said, in his official SFA statement.