absolutely. and that was our greatest fear. speaking as an eagle scout myself, i spent more than 12 years in the program. i love scouting, it made me the man i am today, and taught me a lost incredible lifelong skills, gave me some of my best friends. i had some of my most important values. so this is an experience we want to be, you know accessible to all of america s young men. and the reality, if it they had maintained this ban on gay youth, they would have continued to move further and further from the mainstream from where the rest of america is. that s not something we want to have happen. we want the scouting experience available to all men and it is relevant and people want to participate. if you look at the polling data, even the self-identified conservatives, 45 to 42, support ending the ban on gay scouts. so i think that s really a testament about like jonathan was saying, where we are with discrimination not being an american value. equality being an american value. a
to be friendly, kind and discriminating against gay youth is none of those things. a u.s. editorial read, parents tend to deny you should not be denied the benefit of scouting. it s not about adults. it s about what is best for young people. what do you think? you know, we obviously are going to call for full inclusion for moms like mine but we do see that this step forward is absolutely important to getting to fuller quality and we are glad to be a leadership supporting a ban on youth but we want to help take this step as they continue to go forward and include all parents who want to be a part of their son s scouting experience. zach wahls, thank you for stopping by. thank you you guys. killing americans overseas by remote control. and red china goes green, not out of concern but out of
openly gay youth, in california, who was denied his eagle award because he was an openly ga young man. jennifer terrell, a den mother from how from ohio. john can t change the reality. under the current membership standard, parents like my moms, loving, caring wise people who just want to be a part of their son s scouting experience, are being barred from the program. even under the new change, that would be the case. and it will continue to make sure that people who are young gay men who are in the program know that the day you turn 18 years old, you are no longer fit to be a scout. that isn t what scouting is about. scouting is not about kicking people out. it s not about trying to tell you, you know, what is or what is not appropriate in this kind of context. scouting is about fostering leadership, you know, important life skills in young men. this policy prevents scouting from truly living its mission.
because we didn t get a straight no. that s the interesting part. they ve been pretty hard line about this. zach, your mothers are gay. that s right. and you joined this organization knowing that they would not let your mothers be involved, say, on the girl scouts side as a troop leader or something. i joined this program when i was 6 years old because i wanted to experience the great outdoors and all that stuff. my moms did get involved. it was a don t ask/don t tell policy and the leaders in iowa where i was growing up were willing to turn a blind eye. my mom, jackie, became a den mother, a mama grizzly, if you will and was a highly revered leader. so they were part of the scouting experience and i saw first hand there s no incongruence with scouting values in lgbt people. people who are trying to speak
to experience the great outdoors and all that stuff. my moms did get involved. it was a don t ask/don t tell policy and the leaders in iowa where i was growing up were willing to turn a blind eye. my mom, jackie, became a den mother, a mama grizzly, if you will and was a highly revered leader. so they were part of the scouting experience and i saw first hand there s no incongruence with scouting values in lgbt people. people who are trying to speak out about lifting this ban, it s not about the boy scouts. it s about the problem they have with people who are gay, people who save people s lives, people like my mom who work for the veterans affairs hospitals and protect the men and women in uniform. daniel, for those of us who live outside of boy scout world, what does it mean to the larger community, do you think? i think it s one of the larger parts of sea change? acceptance of the the community.