Boy Scouts Remove Troop Leader Cuz She's A Big Lesbian

The Boy Scouts of America have come under a lot of fire over the years for their anti-gay policies, but this is one of the more sad instances of discrimination I've seen from the organization.

One Potomac Falls mother, Denise Steele, wanted to give her son all the benefits of a happy and healthy childhood, and decided that she could best bond with him by participating in his life with the Boy Scouts. She, her partner, and their two children had lived in the Loudun County area for a decade, yet when her son became involved with BSA, they did not find out she had a partner of nearly 20 years until recently, when her female spouse picked her up after a campout. This was observed by an administrator of the troop, and actions were taken. Steele was removed from her post as assistant troop leader:

The issue of Steele being a lesbian didn’t arise until one weekend in June during a camping trip to Assateague Island. The camping trip was from a Saturday to a Monday, and Steele needed to work Monday so she asked Funk to pick her up from the campsite.

After both departed, one of the other assistant scout masters, Skip Inabinett, started questioning who the woman was who had picked up Steele.

After discovering that Steele’s partner had picked her up, Inabinett felt that she should be removed as an assistant scout master. In an email that Inabinett sent to a close personal friend of Steele’s and whose son was also in the troop, he stated, “If what you said about Denise Steele being an active [homo]sexual is true, do you feel comfortable talking with her about stepping down/resigning as an ASM … as her friend, this may be an opportunity for you to share with her about Christ’s love and the need to believe that as sinners we cannot get to heaven on our own and that we need a savior.”

This is pretty sad. Steele reports that she wanted to be involved in BSA so she could bond with her son. Now she is no longer allowed to go on Scout camping trips and the like.

I was in the Cub Scouts as a young boy, and I recall very clearly an instance where one of my fellow Scouts approached me and said "My dad says you're a fag." When we moved to a different area of town I just didn't have the same enthusiasm for the organization and we never joined another troop.