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    • E. Christian Brugger, D.Phil. – E. Christian Brugger is a Senior Fellow of Ethics and Director of the Fellows Program at the Culture of Life Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the J. Francis Cardinal Stafford Professor of Moral Theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado. He has Master degrees in moral theology and moral philosophy from Seton Hall, Harvard and Oxford Universities and received his D.Phil. (Ph.D.) in Christian ethics from Oxford in 2000.  Christian has published over 200 articles in scholarly and popular periodicals on topics in bioethics, sexual ethics, natural law theory, as well as the interdisciplinary field of psychology and Christian anthropology.  He lives on a farm in Evergreen, Colorado, with his wife Melissa and five children.
    • Helen Alvaré, J.D. – Helen Alvaré, J.D. is Honorary Fellow in Law at the Culture of Life Foundation.   Helen is an Associate Professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia where she teaches and publishes in the areas of property law, family law, and Catholic social thought. Professor Alvaré serves as Consultor for the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Senior Fellow at the Witherspoon Institute where she chairs the Conscience Protection Task Force, is President of the Chiaroscuro Foundation and most recently Editor and Co-Author of Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves.From 2000 to Spring 2008, Professor Alvare taught at the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. Professor Alvare also lectures widely in the United States and Europe on matters concerning marriage, family and respect for human life. She is a consultant to ABC News and to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Marriage and Pro-Life Committees. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named Professor Alvare a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.From 1987-2000, Professor Alvare was an attorney with the USCCB’s General Counsel Office and director of information and planning for the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. In these positions, she testified before the…
    • Jennifer Kimball Watson, Be.L. – Jennifer Kimball Watson joined Culture of Life Foundation as Executive Director in November of 2007. She is an Adjunct Professor of Bioethics at the Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, F.L.. Previous to her work with the Culture of Life Foundation Jennifer was a Wilbur Fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal located in Michigan. Jennifer earned a Licentiate in Bioethics from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum School of Bioethics in Rome.  Her prior undergraduate studies were in International Administration and Government Policy at the Evergreen State College in Washington State.Jennifer’s areas of specialization include Eugenics in Artificial Reproductive Technologies, Heterologous Adoption and Transfer of Embryos, The Womb in Reproductive Technologies, and the Role and Significance of The Medical Act. She interviews with National Conservative and Christian Radio Syndicates as well as several foreign and secular reporters. Jennifer has spoken on the dignity of women and women’s social issues to various audiences since 1999 and has spent several years in advocacy work with various international organizations in the field of life sciences. From 2000 to 2006 she recruited and coordinated grass-roots social policy efforts that consisted of a public and private sector network of professionals and academics…
    • Margaret Datiles Watts, J.D. – Margaret Datiles Watts, J.D., is Culture of Life Foundation’s Associate Fellow in Law. Maggie is member of Washington, D.C. and Maryland bar associations.  She holds a B.A. in Philosophy (Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude) and a Certificate in Classical Philosophy from the University Honors Program at The Catholic University of America. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America, where she served as a Research Fellow at CUA Law’s Marriage Law Project. She also studied Roman Law and EU Law at Magdalene College, University of Oxford, England.A former Fellow and Staff Counsel for Americans United for Life, Datiles co-authored an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the landmark partial birth abortion case, Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, et al., companion case to Gonzales v. Carhart (2007). She also advised legislators, policy groups and the media (radio and newspapers) on abortion and bioethics laws and drafted pro-life model legislation.Her areas of research and/or publication include legal issues surrounding abortion, government funding restrictions for abortion, contraception, healthcare rights of conscience, stem cell research, artificial reproductive technology, population decline, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage.She currently publishes articles…
    • William E. May – William E. May is Senior Research Fellow of the Culture of Life Foundation and emeritus Michael J. McGivney Professor of Moral Theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he taught the academic years from 1991 through 2008 after teaching for 20 years at The Catholic University of America. He is the author of more than a dozen books. The 2nd edition of his Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life was published by Our Sunday Visitor (2008), and a substantively revised 3rd edition is scheduled for publication in 2013. In 2003 Our Sunday Visitor published a revised and expanded edition of his Introduction to Moral Theology. Among his other books are: Marriage: The Rock on Which the Family Is Built (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995; 2nd revised edition, 2009)); and, with Ronald Lawler OFM Cap and Joseph Boyle, Catholic Sexual Ethics (rev. and enlarged ed. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 1998; 2nd rev. edition, 1998; a 3rd edition, substantively revised by May alone, was published in 2011); Theology of the Body: Genesis and Growth (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2010) He has published more…
    • Frank J. Moncher, Ph.D. – Dr. Frank Moncher received his Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina in 1992, following which he spent several years on faculty of the Medical College of Georgia, with a focus on Adolescent Intensive Services. In 2000 he moved to the Washington, DC area to teach at a graduate school of psychology which had a mission of integrating the science of psychology in the context of the Catholic Christian view of the human person. Concurrent with this, over the past 12 years he has consulted with 11 different religious orders and 4 dioceses to provide psychological evaluations of aspirants and candidates, as well as consulting with different diocesan marriage tribunals.His research interests include the integration of Catholic thought into psychotherapy, child and family development issues, and integrated models of assessment of candidates for the priesthood and religious life. Frank is published in Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, Adolescence, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Edification, and the Journal of Psychology and Christianity, as well as contributing to several book chapters on children, families, and religious issues.Since 2010, Dr. Moncher has worked for the Diocese of Arlington and Catholic Charities as a psychologist and consultant.  His…
    • Steve Soukup – Fellow in Culture and Economy Steve Soukup is the Vice President and Publisher of The Political Forum, an “independent research provider” that delivers research and consulting services to the institutional investment community, with an emphasis on economic, social, political, and geopolitical events that are likely to have an impact on the financial markets in the United States and abroad. Mr. Soukup has followed politics and federal regulatory policy for the financial community since coming to Washington in 1996, when he joined Mark Melcher at the award-winning Washington-research office of Prudential Securities. While at Prudential, he was part of the Washington team that placed first in Institutional Investor magazine’s annual analyst survey for eight years in a row. Mr. Soukup left Prudential with Mr. Melcher to join Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2000 and stayed there for two years, before leaving early in 2003 to become a partner at The Political Forum. While at Lehman, Mr. Soukup authored macro-political commentary and followed policy developments in the Natural Resources sector group, focusing on agriculture and energy policy. He also headed Lehman’s industry-leading analysis of asbestos litigation reform efforts. At The Political Forum, Mr. Soukup was initially the editor and junior partner,…
    • Dr. Pilar Calva, M.D. – Dr. Calva is a medical doctor specializing in Human Genetics with a Cytogenetics subspecialty from The University of Paris, France. In Paris, she was the under-study to the world-renowned Professor Jerome Lejeune, who is considered by some to be the father of modern genetics. In 1958, Lejeune discovered that an extra 21st chromosome is responsible for Down syndrome, or Trisomy 21. Lejeune dedicated his life tirelessly and unfailingly to defend the unborn, especially those with Down syndrome, testifying before scientific conferences and lawmakers. He was appointed by Pope John Paul II as the first President of the Pontifical Academy for Life. In Dr. Calva’s own words: When I arrived in France, I lived a life divided between faith and reason. I thought that from Monday to Saturday, I put on my white coat for my scientific tasks, and Sunday was the day I took off the white coat, put on my crucifix and dedicated myself to my religious duties. Professor Lejeune truly converted me, making me see that one can wear the white coat and the cross, at the same time. That is, one can fly with the wing of faith and the wing of reason. Inspired by the life…
    • Elyse M. Smith – Elyse M. Smith is an associate attorney with a northern Virginia law firm working in nonprofit and church law, estate planning, and civil litigation. Ms. Smith graduated magna cum laude from Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida, where she served on Law Review and was published in the Ave Maria International Law Journal. She was named “Most Dedicated Editor” for her work on Law Review. Ms. Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.  
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  >  Issue Briefs  >  Human Sexuality  >  Gay Kids or Adult Agendas? The Scouts’ Dilemma

Gay Kids or Adult Agendas? The Scouts’ Dilemma

Posted: June 13, 2013
By: Frank J. Moncher, Ph.D.
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On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

The popular media commented on the recent Boy Scouts of America’s vote in May 2013 in typical fashion, taking a linguistically-biased and subtly-loaded position in its opening lines:   “The Boy Scouts of America voted…to end its controversial policy banning gay kids and teens from joining one of the nation’s most popular youth organizations, ditching membership guidelines that had roiled the group in recent years.” (italics added)  What is not stated is as important as what is: the majority of those actually in scouting (not the Council who passed the measure) saw no controversy.  They supported the Oath written above, and their Strategic Plan Motto “Timeless Values”, among which, morality and adherence to God’s law, are explicitly stated.  The Supreme Court even decided 13 years ago that as a private membership organization, the BSA was free to decide who it would admit.  Again, no controversy.  The “roiling” would be more aptly termed instigation, and the instigation came from a vocal minority of activists who are regularly challenging anything that characterizes traditional values, be they in marriage, family, and now, youth groups. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, “gay kids” do not exist—if we take the science of developmental psychology and identity formation seriously—only confused kids, who are in the midst of trying to discover their vocation, who they are called to be, within a culture and society that is bombarding them with distorted and erroneous messages.  In other words, the Scouts would be far better served by not compelling or even allowing discussion of non-marital genital sexuality—of any sort.  In so doing, they might even provide confused or questioning male youth a place to bond in a healthy manner with other boys and men, giving them a necessary developmental experience that is known to foster healthy psychosexual development.

Psychological Development and Identity

While mainstream psychology has been subject to its own political challenges to research integrity over the past few decades, the foundational theories and practice of psychological science have long established that one’s identity generally is fluid during childhood and adolescence, and recent research suggests that certain important areas of the brain continue to develop into one’s mid-20s.  More specifically, when it comes to the construct of so-called “sexual orientation”, fluidity, change and reconsideration is more often the norm than not.  Of course, monogamous, chaste, heterosexuality is by design the healthy outcome of any child’s development, but it is naïve to fail to recognize the challenges that confront some youth.  Research that attempts to utilize the idea of an “orientation” to classify and study people is fraught with inconsistent results, likely in part because a person who identifies as homosexual at one point in time could be expected to identify as heterosexual or bisexual at another.  The bottom line then, is that the whole purported reason for the Scouts’ Council to take up the policy, is based on a distorted question of who these children and adolescents at the heart of the matter are called to be. 

At the tender age (pun intended) of scouting, it is not only impossible to determine one’s “orientation”, it risks damaging the person and delaying proper self-discovery.  Furthermore, a significant distinction needs to be made when discussing homosexuality.  When men define themselves as “gay”, they are centering their whole being on that notion.  In discussions with such persons, the point to be made is that they are not first and foremost homosexual or “gay”; they are first and foremost men: men who experience same sex attraction.  One’s sexuality does not define a person, rather, same sex attraction is but one aspect of a person.  By capitulating, the Boy Scouts, not only propound a grave error, they further impede the path to genuine healing.

If it’s really about the kids…

The leadership of Scouts, apparently feeling compelled by signs of the times, takes up this question of the place of sexually-confused kids in their organization.  While insisting that they are trying to “put the kids first” (Wayne Brock, the BSA’s Chief Scout executive), “serve more kids” (Perez, the BSA national commissioner), and promote “the best interest of our nation’s children” (Wayne Perry, Boy Scouts president), the leaders appear to suffer confusion as well, oblivious to how their action is harming children (both those confused about their sexuality and those who are mercifully preserved from an obsession with sex despite the cultural milieu).  In the end, they will almost certainly serve fewer children as some sponsoring organizations will likely break ties with BSA and form alternative groups.

Children learn most from the behavior observed and choices made by trusted and respected adults.  A review of the Scouts’ Executive Committee decision-making process indicates the leadership, by their own account, was swept up in the cultural tide: “Overall key findings that the Executive Committee considered to be critical to the development of a resolution (included):
     • Attitudes and opinions among Americans related to gay and lesbian relationships have changed rapidly over the past three years…
     • While a majority of adults in the Scouting community support the BSA’s current policy of excluding open and avowed homosexuals, younger parents and teens tend to oppose the policy. 

Apparently a 103-year history can be abolished by a three-year trend, and the “wisdom” of teens trumps that of the majority and the elders of the community. 

What was required in this situation, for the kids, was a tough, politically incorrect, but coherent and defensible stand by the leadership.  Being “mentally awake and morally straight” means, at a minimum, recognizing that the Scouts were never created to be a place of sexual discernment or exploration; the prohibition that was formerly in place merely conveyed a concrete reflection of the standards embodied in the Oath and Law.  What the children really needed was adult men who would provide sage counsel that whatever sexual attractions they may be feeling at the age of 10, 12 or 14, there is much life to be lived ahead; join us, and focus on what boys growing into manhood ought to be focused upon, the real strength of Scouting.  

Making proclamations about one’s sexual “orientation” publically is neither “obedient…brave, clean, nor reverent”. 

Human Sexuality
1
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
736
475

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