Planning for Pride: How Scouting can celebrate the LGBTQ+ community next month
Looking for some inspiration? Here's a roundup of LGBTQ+ inclusive practices, posts and plans from Scouting councils and units around the country.
I don’t have to tell any of you that Scouting’s embrace of the LGBTQ+ community has proceeded in fits and starts in the years since the anti-gay policies ended. In some corners of the country, inclusive programs are a priority, and in others they are still largely off the table.
So with Pride month fast-approaching, I wanted to give you all some resources to enhance or kickstart LGBTQ+ inclusivity in your local area. Whether your circle of influence is an entire council or a single troop, there’s probably something you can do to take part in the annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community that will kick off on June 1.
Last year, I highlighted a bunch of Pride programming from around the country; I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you copied (err, took inspiration from) their efforts:
An unprecedented post
On the Instagram page for the Order of the Arrow, something groundbreaking happened last year: The Admonition Team created the first-ever Pride-themed social media post recognizing and affirming the organization’s LGBTQ+ members.
“We wanted to send a clear message, using accessible language, that Scouting is a place for everyone,” Gavin Cho, then-leader of the Admonition Team, told me at the time.
The post appeared on the OA’s Instagram page at the very beginning of Pride month and received a deluge of positive comments. “We’ve come a long way baby,” said one user. “Shook,” said another. “This is why I'm proud to wear my Scouting uniform and OA sash!” And one, very simply, said: “Seen.”
You can read more about what went into the post here. And while you may not have the keys to a huge social media following, consider what you do have access to: Can your troop or council make a similar Instagram post? Or could you share a message like this on your personal Facebook page?
Flying the flag high
High above the offices of the Greater Los Angeles Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America last June, three flags waved proudly against a bright blue sky.
On the far left, the flag of the state of California. In the center, our familiar stars and stripes. And to the right, the six-color rainbow flag with is five-color chevron, representing the beautiful diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.
It was the doing of Gary Carroll, then the council’s director of field services and chief operating officer (and now the nation’s first openly-gay scout executive). He hoisted the Pride flag above the LA council offices to show that LGBTQ+ scouts were welcome there, but also to recognize the progress his council was making in diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We’re doing it because we’re walking the talk,” Carroll told me.
You can read more about that here. Where can you fly the Pride flag this year? At your local camp? At a weekly troop meeting?
Making a statement
We have all seen our fair share of corporate statements over the past two years. Crisis after crisis in 2020 compelled executives to make their thoughts known on everything from race, to climate change and gay rights.
But last June, Ken Morrison, president of the Northeast Illinois Council, did something different. He wanted to recognize and apologize for the harm done by the BSA’s decades of exclusionary policies toward the LGBTQ+ community. So he did, in a powerful statement that the council issued to its members.
“We recognize that these policies remained in place far too long and that they were exclusionary and hurtful. We also recognize that LGBTQIA+ and questioning Scouts and Scouters suffered from biased, harmful, and insensitive comments and actions of others involved in the program. We apologize for the harm caused by these attitudes and behaviors,” the statement read.
Morrison’s words were backed up by action: The council created a diversity, equity and inclusion committee and hired a vice president of DEI. They also contracted with a local youth services agency to help them create a culture of inclusion, especially for trans and gender-nonconforming youth.
You can read more about that here. Where can you make a statement this year?
These three examples are just the start. What are you planning for Pride month? Will you be marching in a Pride parade, or working behind the scenes? Let us know in the comments!
I'm the Council VP of Membership and we'll be attending three pride events with our Scouts Pride flag that we ordered from the UK. We successfully registered several families last year and hope to improve on that this year. Thanks for sharing the ideas!
My spouse sings with a local LGBTQ+ choir (called The Quire) and they will perform at Pride. We've both marched in the parade previously. I suspect we will do that again.
I haven't put forward any ideas for the council to have representation at the event, but I believe I'll talk with our council DEI volunteer lead.