John Stemberger is not at all surprised that Disney World says it will no longer financially support the Boy Scouts nor allow any of its 66,000 employees to volunteer for the Boy Scouts and have those hours counted toward Disney volunteer time.
The decision comes approximately one year after Disney World appointed its first openly gay president, George Kalogridis.
Stemberger, an Eagle Scout in his youth, was a major figure in the effort to keep the Boy Scouts from changing their policy of not allowing openly gay boys in the Scouts. When the Boy Scouts decided last year to allow openly gay scouts, Stemberger and others met in Nashville and founded a rival scouting group called Trail Life.
He told Breitbart News exclusively that Disney World has long supported gay causes, including allowing “gay days” at Disney World. He said, however, “it is one thing to allow use of your theme park and quite another to become an open advocate, which is what they have become.”
He said that such action was inevitable because gay leaders would never be satisfied with the new Boy Scout policy of allowing openly gay boys but not allowing openly gay adult leaders. The new policy opened up the prospect of a gay Eagle Scout being kicked out at 18 when he wants to become an adult leader.
Stemberger told Breitbart News that the Boy Scouts wanted to be seen in the mainstream of public opinion, and that is why they changed the policy. However, he said Scout leaders failed in the Boy Scout promise of being brave because they were not willing to stand up to their peers demanding the change.
Disney is the seventh major corporation to pull funding from the Boy Scouts for their ban on open gays as adult Scout leaders. Disney joins Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Major League Soccer, Merck, Intel, and UPS in pulling support.
Stemberger believes it is inevitable that the rule against adult gays as Boy Scout leaders will soon fall. It is precisely corporate pressure like what is happening now from Disney and other corporations that precipitated the first policy charge.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.