Southern Baptists approve resolution against accepting gay Boy Scouts

Opening Scouting to openly homosexual youth “has the potential to complicate basic understandings of male friendships, needlessly politicize human sexuality, and heighten sexual tensions within the Boy Scouts,” the proposed resolution states.

And this: Southern Baptists “consistently have expressed their opposition to the normalization of homosexual behavior in American culture through more than a dozen resolutions over the past thirty years,” the proposed resolution states.

The resolution also calls for a change in the BSA’s “executive and board leadership.”

In Marietta, Rev. Stephanie Seigh of One World Spiritual Center says her church welcomes all Boy Scouts who are being booted from churches over the BSA’s recent decision to allow openly gay members.

Seigh said in a story by the Associated Press she decided to be welcoming, and include the message of affirmation on her church’s marquee, after nearby Roswell Street Baptist Church kicked out the troop it hosted for some 68 years.

“We wanted to help these Boy Scout troops and wanted to let people know that we’re an open and welcoming and affirming spiritual community,” Seigh said.

Jeff Fulcher, a spokesperson for the Boy Scouts of America’s Atlanta Area Council, told the AP that more than 95 percent of the Scout’s charter partners, including churches, are allowing troops to stay with them and following the new BSA policy prohibiting discrimination against gay youth.

Read the BSA press statement about its policy, which allows openly gay members beginning Jan. 1, 2014, by clicking here.