An Open Letter to the Boy Scouts of America National Council

Dear Leaders and Friends of Boy Scouts of America;

I encourage the National Council of Boy Scouts of America to uphold the ban on gay leaders when it votes in May.  As a cub scout leader and scout mother in the 1970's and now a scout grandmother, I am concerned that this change in behavioral expectations for our sons will undermine the foundations of moral, religious and family values in our country.

As a professor of sociology, now retired, I have given considerable thought to examining this issue from the differing perspectives.  I am enclosing a paper presented at the Southwestern Sociological Association Meetings in 2010.

The PDF file of this paper - "Over the Rainbow: The Gay Battle for Social Reorganization of America" is located on my website, www.wrestlingwithangels.com.  It can be downloaded on to electronic readers at no cost.

Concerns are summarized on page 1.  "The normalization of homosexuality in society will create profound changes in social organization, especially in the areas of social integration, social reproduction, social health and the inter-generational transfer of cultural values.  The social discourse has been rampant with charges of bigotry, hate mongering and charges of homophobia.  However, neither intimidation, tolerance nor back slapping love fests are appropriate means to bring about change in social behavior that has wide reaching consequences."

Personal concerns are outlined in two articles from my blogsite.  "On Telling Children to Play in the Traffic" (Sept. 3, 2012)  and "Prude Pride - Restoring Sexual Sanity" (Sept. 27, 2012).

"For God and Country" has been a foundational motto for the Boy Scouts.  The normalization of homosexuality would place the Boy Scouts at odds with religious family values, making it inappropriate to support and protect these values within the organization.

Thank you for your consideration of these concerns.

Marjorie L. Coppock, Ph.D.