“On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” (Oath, Boy Scouts of America)

As an executive board member serving a historic Boy Scouts of America council, a former Troop leader for many years, and a father of two Eagle Scouts, the fall of this once great youth organization established in 1910 has been discouraging, to put it mildly. Our years with Scouting were great — lots of challenges and achievements, stewarding youngsters toward a life defined by integrity and character, many campfire conversations, good friends, etc.

The BSA announced last week its $850 million settlement with thousands of abuse claimants, the vast majority being from many decades ago.

I should clarify that the bankruptcy filing was by the National BSA organization, which has now morphed into just “Scouting,” as the organization is now open to girls. However, Scout Councils across the nation operate as independent entities, and many of those are still rock-solid conservative scouting organizations.

In a 2016 essay titled “The Boy Scouts’ ‘Gay Pride’ Merit Badge,” I wrote about how the leftist “homosexual agenda” had infiltrated the BSA’s national board.

In January of 2013, in a “Letter to an Eagle Scout,” I responded to the dismay over a proposal by the BSA National Board to remove the membership restriction regarding sexual orientation. In May of that year, the BSA’s national board, under the “leadership” of wealthy corporate types who were completely out of touch with grassroots Scouting values, promoted and implemented a national policy to sponsor homosexuals in Scout troops. It was clear then that the next policy change would be inviting homosexual leaders.

Indeed, in May of 2015, the BSA’s national board announced that it would open its ranks to adult homosexuals, a self-destructive policy that the board officially approved two months later. Of course, it would follow then that in 2017, the BSA’s national board announced that it would open its ranks to “transgendered boys.” (As I noted then, there is no such thing as “transgendered.” Gender-disoriented people may “identify” as another sex, but they will always be the same gender they were when first formed in their mothers’ wombs.)

And so it goes. The national board acquiesced to demands for homosexual leadership, knowing that leftist states like California would force that infusion or shut down the BSA units.

They should have stood their ground. Instead, those wealthy corporate board members abandoned the BSA’s “morally straight” code, and the current massive settlement will not be the last of the abuse charges. The BSA will continue to pay the price for its moral bankruptcy.

Apparently, BSA board members learned nothing from the horrendous record of predatory sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church — almost all same-sex, predatory male adults assaulting male children and adolescents. And they did so all the while under the cloud of the pending BSA abuse charges, which have now thrust the National BSA into bankruptcy.

So, where does that leave BSA’s grassroots membership across the nation? The BSA’s leftist agenda has resulted in a youth membership drop between 2019 and 2020 of a whopping 43%, from 1.97 million in 2019 to 1.12 million in 2020. And the BSA’s bankruptcy filing records indicate membership is now down to 762,000.

How did that work out?

Of course, the decline in the last year has been accelerated by other leftist national BSA policies, including an official letter supporting the Marxist so-called “Black Lives Matter” movement, and now a proposed Eagle-required “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” merit badge.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776