David Sanchez remembers when he was new to the Boy Scouts of America 32 years ago, working through the myriad awards and merit badges that he faced in his quest to earn the highest-possible rank of Eagle, there were a couple other boys in his troop he suspected were gay, though he doesn't remember ever knowing for sure, and not really caring.
He also recalls a scout leader who always "seemed rather sensitive, different from the other leaders," but was "funny, smart and made the meetings a lot more enjoyable...looking back now, I think he might have been gay."
Nevertheless, said Sanchez, 46, who lives in the Los Angeles community of Van Nuys, the BSA's decision Thursday to lift its ban on openly gay scouts "is a huge mistake and it'll mean the end to the Scouting program."
Sanchez echoed the sentiments from most the 25 Latino past scouts in the Southern California area who told Latinos Post they also disagreed with the BSA's new policy, which still doesn't allow gay adult leaders.
Now an electrical engineer and father of two college-aged boys of his own, Sanchez asserted that by abandoning its core, religious-based values, the BSA, which claims 2.7 million youth members and more than one million adult volunteers, is demonstrating that "staying true to what you consider to be correct isn't really as important as everyone says it is...When the going gets tough, it's OK to cave."
Felix Ortiz, 35, a former member of the cub program and now a shuttle bus driver living in Whittier, Calif., said he doesn't have "any bad feelings about gay people," but by saying it will now happily accept scouts regardless of sexual orientation, the organization "is telling a kid to proclaim his sexuality for the world to see and is singling him out from all the other kids."
The Boy Scouts, Ortiz said, are settling in to "their new role as the Equality Scouts, and after this, they won't be able to say no to anyone."
Carlos Vega, 27, who identified himself as a former scout but declined to offer any more details about his time with the group, suggested it was "about time the BSA became more inclusive. It alienates a lot of people....1950s News Flash: Blacks and Jewish people are allowed in too....and they can marry. How about that?"
For a long time, he complained, the BSA has been "totally backwards in its thinking...I'm surprised [letting gays in] is still such a big deal."
Joe Montoya, a private gardener who reached the First Class rank when he was a boy and whose son, Alex, just entered the BSA, said now he has to "think twice about whether I want my son exposed to all this. I don't think the decision is going to calm things down. It's going to make it worse. People are really angry."
After their historic vote, the leaders of the BSA issued a statement that read, in part:
"For 103 years, the Boy Scouts of America has been a part of the fabric of this nation, with a focus on working together to deliver the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training.
"Today ...the approximate 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America's National Council approved a resolution to remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone. The resolution also reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting...the policy for adults remains in place."
The BSA statement asserted that, despite its policy shift, which goes into effect Jan. 1, it "will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed" by a single, divisive and unresolved issue.