Can A Scout Be Gay?

ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN--CORBIS SYGMA FOR TIME
Cozza likes the Scout uniform but not Scout values

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But the most wrenching internal controversies for the Scouts have involved gay boys, not gay leaders. Local scoutmasters routinely allow boys who come out to remain in scouting, though if headquarters finds out, locals risk losing their charter. In August a 16-year-old eagle scout applied for a job at Camp Yawgoog, a Boy Scout retreat 30 minutes west of Providence, R.I. Camp director Gary Savignano, reeling from a recent pedophilia scandal, asked the boy if he was gay. When the boy said yes, Savignano told him he couldn't have the job.

A sit-in ensued, and someone eventually pointed out that Rhode Island has a law against anti-gay discrimination. The local Scout council issued a statement offering the kid the job. But when the men at Scout headquarters heard about the controversy, they had spokesman Gregg Shields confirm that the boy can't be a scout if he is gay. The local council quickly backtracked, reaching an uneasy compromise with headquarters: the boy kept the job--and his scouting membership--but he had to agree not to talk about being gay. Since then, the United Way and other funders have been under pressure to stop donating to the Scouts.

Most such skirmishes are on hold as everyone waits for the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the Boy Scouts try to remain an organization where no one talks about homosexuality in an age when everyone talks about it.