Having been held hostage by monied interests demanding all things LGBT, BSA now suffers from a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome. In its most recent ruling, allowing delusional girls to gain membership by claiming to be boys, Boy Scouts of America has lurched into an institutional psychosis from which it will never recover.
In the prior rulings, BSA opened the door to gay scouts and then to gay leaders. There was a significant exodus by scouts and scouters who saw where this was headed and decided not to stick around for the show. At the time, equally principled people who stayed were willing to give it time and to work for keeping the focus on the program, and to ensure that the program content was not hijacked by discussions dealing with sex and sexual orientation. The most recent ruling is a game changer.
In any troop where a delusional girl is granted admittance, every boy will now be forced to welcome her, work with her, and play along with her delusional psychosis. Therein lies the great difference. If the homosexual issue could be papered over with assurances that the rest of the boys would not be affected, now healthy boys must accept and participate in the severest form of delusional ideation on pain of retribution, as certainly their “Scout Spirit,” a requirement for every level of rank advancement, will come into question. Their healthy responses to psychosis in their midst will be held against them as hatred, bigotry, and intolerance; all the things scouting stands against. These will be the lucky scouts.
The most tragic of all scouts will be those who are raised and inculturated to see no problem with boyhood and masculinity as not being rooted first in biology. It will not go well for a boy to be told that a female body must be accepted as male if that’s what the female says. So the very idea of maleness and masculinity is no longer transmitted in BSA by men to boys, but by psychotic girls to boys through the men who will surrender all for…
What?
With yesterday’s ruling BSA sold out the very identity of its member boys and leaders. Pound for pound, a psychotic girl is every bit as male as a healthy boy. That’s the new message.
That’s the new brand.
But it won’t end there. Be prepared for the lawsuits from parents of healthy girls who want admittance to Boy Scouting because Girl Scouting isn’t what they want. Be prepared for these parents to complain that BSA discriminates against healthy biological females by only accepting deluded females. Then BSA will have to open to being fully coed, and a once-great program for boys to learn the ways of men will have been destroyed forever. That said, there is always hope.
Trail Life USA is a solid new program modeled heavily on the BSA program, and started in response to the homosexual decisions in BSA. It is Christian, and populated by many of the scouts and scouters who left BSA. Check them out.
As for BSA, it will go on in name, but this betrayal of boys has forever changed the very DNA of the organization. As we know from genetics, changes in genetic composition are mutations, and they rarely portend good things to come.
Photo Credit: Irina Kusnetsova on 500px.com
Coming Home 
The Girl Scouts already allow boys who think they are girls to join, and it’s okay with the national leadership if troop leaders decide not to tell the other parents.
That whole situation is so sad. The scouts used to be such a safe nice learning place for young folks and now, it’s all gone the way it used to be. Depressing. 😦
Thoughtful post, thank you. No doubt there are horrible agenda-driven engines behind this move. But there may be more. In earlier posts, Dr. Nadal, you mentioned how difficult it was for Joseph to integrate himself with his peers, and your fears for what this might mean long-term. Your description of the situation and the feelings it gave rise to in you, and Joseph, was powerful. Now, imagine (if you will) a father of a child who is (in a different way) affected by a condition that we understand no more than autism. And that condition left a child, and family, devastated, full of despair and anguish, and close to the point of hopelessness. Imagine it also tearing at the bonds between parents (the plight of children can do that). Now, imagine the surprise and joy of a parent whose child, like Joseph, finds an acceptance, hope, and accomplishment that was before then unimaginable. Think of children – with surprising empathy, and innocent ignorance of political vicissitudes – embracing that child and promoting something magical. Sure, there may be lawsuits by parents of healthy girls, but I doubt it – and even more doubt any success of those suits should they occur. And no, I don’t think the term “psychotic” is appropriate given how little we know of the condition. Not too long ago, many sufferers of autism had been called that, erroneously. Probably good not to make that mistake towards others. My son is a boy scout. Whether he stays or leaves BSA will depend on many factors. He likes it. We’ll deal with things as they come.
pt-109 said it better than I ever could.
*The commenter formerly known as “L.”
PT-109,
Sorry, pal, but you’re completely wrong on this one. Understanding what gives rise to this delusional ideology does not in any way lessen the fact that we understand very well that this is delusional ideology. The parallel with autism is completely off as well.
Participating in a child’s delusional ideology is the first step in mutilating a human being, and almost always followed by chemical and surgical mutilation. As we come to know the psychosis better, we can develop more effective therapies to bring subjective perception into alignment with objective reality, and that is where your parallel with autism entirely breaks down.
As we came to understand autism better and better, we were able to more effectively work around the neurological roadblocks. Today, Joseph is one of the most highly decorated Eagle Scouts in the nation, and investigating entrance into the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. We didn’t get him there by reinforcing the negative ideations and behaviors that are the manifestations of autism.
BSA, until this week, was an organization for boys, but not every boy who wanted to join. We don’t accept atheists, and do not advance those who might hate America and express such hatred, among other issues. This week BSA committed suicide. It will take time to bleed out, but the membership effusion cannot be stopped.
Dr. Nadal,
I could be wrong, of course. (If “L” agrees with me… whoa, I must be!) Wrong is an important aspect of my character. And I compliment you: you expressed your point of view cogently and respectfully (mostly). Really, it’s easy for me to agree that the presence of male “equipment” is a universal assignment of gender – in permanent ink. If I owned a dog, he would want to fight on your side. It was my dog, after all, who ogled the girls at Columbia University, a site you unfortunately had to witness.
Objective reality is where the analogy breaks down, you say. Sure, that’s where most analogies break down. Nonetheless, many people with autism were excluded from school, clubs, activities, friendships, respect, opportunities, and even Boy Scouts. The confusion, pain and suffering in parents and afflicted children are similar, and the healing nature of acceptance are similar. Of course, if the cure kills the patient, then I’m just an idiot. But you see a dead BSA, and I see one that is very much alive. I have mixed feelings, but that is natural given the knowledge of both of the conditions in my analogy are still in their infancy.
I agree with the psychiatrist who said that if someone believed he would be healthier or more “himself” with no arms, we should not embrace that viewpoint out of misplaced political correctness and assist him in cutting off his arms. Same goes with gender re-assignment. But for some, it is the only way, and it’s undoubtedly rooted in biology. It saddens me, of course, but I believe when we prioritize what makes each person feel unique and special, which is necessary for them to be unique and special — even at the risk it might place on certain institutions — we move closer to something divine. Ultimately, the institutions thrive. Ultimately, we are better people.
You are a good man, Dr. Nadal. We never doubt it for a minute.