Ohio mom ousted as Boy Scout troop leader for being gay

Well, this is abhorrent:

On Tuesday night protesters gathered in front of a Bridgeport church to let their local Boy Scout leaders know how they felt about a controversial decision.

The controversy began just last week when a Tiger Scout leader had her membership revoked due to her sexual orientation.

Jennifer Tyrrell said she was the den leader for Pack 109’s Tiger Scouts for a year before her orientation became an issue. […]

[T]he Boy Scouts of America has a strict policy when it comes to sexual orientation and membership.

“We do not grant membership to individuals who are opened or avowed homosexuals,” said Bob Drury. Drury is the scout executive for the Ohio River Valley. Drury said there was no decision to be made, the policy is very clear.

Drury added, “The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to develop character and leadership skills and the youth of today to become leaders of tomorrow…Anything that distracts from that mission distracts from what our program is.”

And how exactly does it distract from the program? If anything, ousting leaders from their troop for being gay is a bit more of a distraction, don’t ya think? GLAAD’s President Herndon Graddick responded, “Sending the message to America’s youth that they or their parents are somehow less than everyone else is dangerous, inaccurate and should be changed immediately.”

Tyrrel has a petition on Change.org to get the policy changed, but let’s call them too and stir some shit up. It’s interesting how striking the differences are compared to the Girl Scouts — they could learn something from them.