Anti-Gay Scouting Group Says It Was 'Horrified' The AP Published This Photo

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/trail-life-usa-photo-2014-3



The leader of a Christian alternative to Boy Scouts that does not allow gays said the group was "horrified" when news organizations published a photo from one of its meetings in Texas that appeared to show a group of children giving the Nazi "Seig Heil" salute. John Stemberger, the chairman of the board for Trail Life USA, told Business Insider he initially saw the picture in a story that was published on MSN on Saturday.

"We were horrified when we saw the photo in question on the MSN site and immediately investigated the situation," Stemberger said in a statement Monday. "This is what we learned... Many Boy Scout Troops have a tradition of ending their troop meetings with the boys gathering in a circle and then singing the song 'Taps' which is a slow ceremonial piece of music played or sung at the end of the day. The Boy Scouts that do this closing ceremony start singing the song with their hands raised straight into the air with the scout sign and then gradually lower their hands till they get to the end of the song when hands are at their side. This longstanding Boy Scout tradition was being followed with this Texas Trail Life troop using the Trail Life sign."

Stemberger also said the "Trail Life sign/salute is a standard military salute using the full hand with all four fingers."

Trail Life USA was launched in January as a "a faith-based outdoor adventure program" that "unapologetically reflects a Christian worldview." It admits boys who "do not engage in or promote sexual immorality" and are "biologically male." The organization claims to have hundreds of units in 40 states and has attracted children and parents upset with The Boy Scouts of America's decision to allow openly gay members.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/trail-life-usa-photo-2014-3#ixzz2v0E61vzw

[Swede Atlanta]

1. Don't let the door hit you in the ass as you crawl from an organization that

has been around for over a hundred years and served hundreds of thousands if not millions of young men over the years. I'm disappointed it took the BSA so long to recognize their "no gays" policies had driven away many otherwise good or great scouts and represented the worst form of discrimination - rejecting someone simply because they are who they are. I hope the policy against gay scout leaders will soon follow.

But this new organization represents not a Christian alternative but a balkanization of the scouting experience. Running away from the gays won't make them go away. Running away teaches them bigotry and hatred. These values may serve them somewhat in the American South and parts of the Midwest but they will soon find their "values" are not shared by the majority of Americans.

[joeybee12]

2. If they were actually lowering thier hands...

dontcha think some would be higher, some lower, no much in unison?