Q Toon: Be Thou Prepared

Last week, officials of the Boy Scouts of America announced that they were officially dropping their blanket opposition to LGBT adults serving as scout leaders. BSA National President Robert Gates (the former Defense Secretary) explained that "due to the social, political and legal changes taking place in our country and in our movement, I did not believe the adult leadership policy could be sustained."

LGBT activists were disappointed that  the new policy will not apply to troops sponsored by religious organizations for whom antigay discrimination is a precious tenet of faith. Given that 70% of Boy Scout troops are chartered by faith-based organizations, the new policy could be of little help to gay scouts nearing adulthood in troops sponsored by evangelical, Mormon, or Catholic congregations.

Some evangelical, Mormon and Catholic sponsors, however, are upset by the new policy as well.

Officials of the Mormon church were apparently on vacation when the policy change was made, and saw that as a problem in an of itself. The church issued a statement complaining, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today’s vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board. In spite of a request to delay the vote, it was scheduled at a time in July when members of the Church’s governing councils are out of their offices and do not meet. When the leadership of the Church resumes its regular schedule of meetings in August, the century-long association with Scouting will need to be examined."

The Vatican hasn't issued any statement on the matter, and the National Catholic Committee on Scouting has been guarded in its reaction. Some local officials, on the other hand, aren't waiting for Holy Writ. Catholic Bishop David Kagan of Western North Dakota announced that, "Effective immediately, the Catholic Church of the Diocese of Bismarck and each and every one of its parishes, schools and other institutions is formally disaffiliated with and from the Boy Scouts of America."

A number of evangelical leaders reacted negatively, including Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, who told the Associated Press, "Look, my advice to parents who are asking me about this is if you are concerned about the safety of your boys, you should run, not walk, away from the Boy Scouts as quickly as possible." Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd agreed, telling the Baptist Press, "Sadly and regrettably, I believe churches who stand on the biblical ethic of sexuality will have to cease their sponsorship and involvement in the Boy Scouts of America."

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In this week's cartoon, I tried to come up with a name for the fictitious congregation whose council of elders is planning their next move. There are a lot of Catholic churches with "Our Lady" in the name, and "Latter Day" is exclusive to Mormons, but finding a word evoking evangelicals was a little more challenging. "Evangelism" is a core value of all Christian denominations (hence the "E" in the officially LGBT-friendly ELCA), so that word wouldn't work.

I settled on "Fellowship," which appears in the name of many a Baptist, non-denominational, and other fundamentalist church. Of course, other Christian denominations believe in fellowship, too; although, where I come from, the word is intimately associated with coffee and kringle.

Q Toon: Two Things Make a Cartoon

When the Boy Scouts of America relented last year from its policy of banning gay boys from scouting, there was a lot of phony concern that somebody was trampling on the religious convictions of homophobes.

The BSA's ban on openly gay adults serving as scout leaders remains in place. When it came to light that Geoff McGrath, a gay former Eagle Scout, had accepted the post of scoutmaster of Troop 98 outside Seattle, Washington, the national organization came down hard on the United Methodist Church sponsoring the troop. The national BSA booted McGrath from his leadership position and revoked the troop's charter.

As Rev. Monica Corsaro, pastor of Rainier Beach UMC, explained for Time magazine,

We didn’t choose Geoff McGrath as a political statement. We chose Geoff because he was the perfect person for the job, an Eagle Scout himself, and someone who has a Master’s degree in Social Work. He has mentoring and leadership skills that someone taking on this role needs. A perfect fit. Geoff was quite willing, to serve as scoutmaster but was also nervous that his being gay would pose a problem for me and for the congregation. I assured him that putting him in the leadership of this troop would reflect and live out the values of our congregation, and that we would not have a troop at Rainier Beach UMC unless it was fully inclusive, because that is who we are. ...

Our congregation is the chartering organization for the troop, and yet I, as the pastor, had no contact from the BSA when they told Geoff that he was kicked out as a leader. Further, the BSA asked me and the congregation to violate our conscience and our religious beliefs by removing him as a leader of the Boy Scout troop when we know he is the most gifted for the leadership of the troop we chartered.

So there you have it. According to the BSA, antigay religious beliefs must be respected and protected, but gay-friendly religious beliefs are of no consequence whatsoever.

Q Toon: Rick Perry

I'm catching up on a little news item that came across the wires during my vacation earlier this month. Speaking of the decision due this Thursday from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), Texas Governor Rick Perry compared rejecting LGBT youth to not seceding from the Union during an appearance on the American Family Association program "Stand With Scouts Sunday" on May 4.

(Most reports have Perry likening support of the BSA's current antigay policy to fighting slavery, when in fact he is only citing Governor Sam Houston's declaration that slavery was not worth leaving the Union over. As Rev. Ellen Cooper-Davis noted in the Houston Chronicle, Houston himself owned slaves. Houston favored neither abolitionists nor secessionists, foreseeing that his beloved South would end up losing the Civil War.)

What caught my ear were Perry's comments on what he called "pop culture":

“[The BSA] values and principles have worked for a century now. And for pop culture to come in and try to tear that up, which happens to be the flavor of the month so to speak, and to tear apart one of the great organizations that has served millions of young men, helped them become men and become great fathers, that is just not appropriate and frankly I hope the American people will stand up and say, ‘Not on my watch.’ ...
“And if we change and become more like pop culture, young men will be not as well served. America will not be as well served, and Boy Scouts will start on a decline that I don’t think will serve this country well as we go into the future.”

It would be easy to dig up examples of politicians from the Houston's day who publicly proclaimed that America would not be well served and would start on a decline were slavery to be abolished. And while Houston's contemporaries were not familiar with the phrases "pop culture" and "flavor of the month," some would have happily dismissed slavery's opponents in similar terms.

Editorial cartoonists and Governor Perry have been at odds lately over his attack on Sacramento Bee cartoonist Jack Ohman, so I'll confess that I welcomed the opportunity to lampoon the Texas governor. But I'm not a totally unfair person. I resisted the temptation to have Perry struggle to remember that third "really."

Q Toon: Gather Ye Merit Badges While Ye May

Amid the news of pressure cooker bombs in Boston and fertilizer plant explosions in Texas and fucking shit bombs in North Dakota, a news story overlooked in the chaos is that the Boy Scouts of America organization has decided to stop barring young boys who identify as gay from joining the Scouts. Gay and lesbian scout leaders and den mothers, such as Jennifer Tyrrell of Ohio (not, I feel obliged to point out, of Westeros) who was booted out last April, are still persona non grata.

It's the sort of half-baked semi-solution that won't last long.

"How does a (gay scout) commit his life to an organization who he knows full well is going to dump him the day he turns 18?" Tyrrell asked. "It would be really hard for that boy to believe in trustworthiness and loyalty and all those things that are important as a scout."

By the way, there's been some sort of problem with Q Syndicate's email since the weekend. All of my messages to Q Syndicate addresses came back as undeliverable (fortunately, some of the editorial staff have emails outside the @qsyndicate.com system). My address there wasn't working, either. Logging in to retrieve my email, I found the inbox empty even of messages I had saved.

With luck, the syndicate is still able to distribute my cartoon and all the other features this week. But on the off chance that someone out there has tried to complain about last week's cartoon, I'm not really ignoring you. (You're just wrong is all.)

The comments feature of this blog still works.

This week's sneak peek

My ink-slinging brethren and sistren are having a field day with the Senate's failure to move even tepid gun legislation, the chances for immigration reform, the bombing of the Boston Marathon, and even a fertilizer factory explosion in Texas (an excellent observation by Pat Bagley here, by the way). While there was an LGBT sidebar to the Boston story, I'm hoping my editors are looking for something in which the gay angle is less tangential.

Q Toon: Imagine!

This week's cartoon is one of those that probably need footnotes to work. Unless you've been reading the same blogs and newspapers I have, or watched the same news and late night shows, you may not realize that I'm making fun of specific things people have said.

Well, that's what this blog is for, I guess.

Buster Wilson of the American Family Association argued against letting gay scouts and scoutmasters into the Boy Scouts of America, painting a scary word picture of scouts in peril:

Imagine with me a troop of young boys, ranging in ages from 12-16. These young boys are going to be out in the woods, away from their parents. Not just away from their parents but away from any contact with their parents. Back in my day, there were no cell phones. And today, most camps sites are out cell range.
They would be out in the woods for 2-4 days, nights, depending on what time of the year it was. They will sleep in pairs or threes, in sleeping bags, in tents or out in the open. They will shower and wash in the creeks or lakes that outline their camp site. It would be nothing for boys to wonder about with their shirts off, or sometimes just in their underwear or swim suit because they had just been to the latrine or to the swimming hole. 

Yes, let's let our imaginations run wild with Buster and the boys...

Now, for that last frame, I shift over to a Wall Street Journal columnist's argument against allowing women to serve in combat. I'm not sure if that's the same guy who used the exact same phrasing on CNN (and shown on the Daily Show) or if that's one of the Talking Points Frank Luntz sent out to all the right wingers to parrot that day. I'm sure Buster would have happily incorporated Ryan Smith's argument into his own if he had gotten the memo in time.

This Week's Sneak Peek

Video blogger Jackson Pearce last week proposed a counter-protest to Mikey Huckabee's Take a Boy Scout to Chick-Fil-A Day on Wednesday:

“There’s this bible passage, Proverbs 25:21 ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.’ So if you are not a fan of Chick-Fil-A’s stand on hate, on August 1, I suggest you go there and ask for a large water. If they say you need to order something, cite Proverbs 25:21. I mean technically if they are operating on biblical principals they should give you an entire combo meal if your stomach growls but lets keep it simple. Just ask for a large water and nothing else. If they give it to you, you just got a few pennies of their profit and less money goes to their hate foundations. And if they don’t…”

Qtoon: Some Nights You Can Still Hear His Fabulous Cry

Based as it is upon a Change.org press release, this week's cartoon might be a step or two ahead of reality.

NEW YORK, NY – Sources have confirmed that Boy Scouts of America officials have proposed a new policy — which could be voted on as early as 2013 — that would allow local chartering organizations to decide whether or not to accept gay youth and leaders, according to Change.org .

The proposal comes after Eagle Scout Zach Wahls delivered more than 275,000 signatures to the National Annual Meeting of the Boy Scouts of America from a popular petition on Change.org . The petition calls on the Boy Scouts to reinstate a lesbian den leader in Ohio, Jennifer Tyrrell, who was removed from her position because of her sexual orientation, and to end the Boy Scouts' long-held policy barring openly gay scouts and scout leaders.

My better half thinks that I made the story-teller in the cartoon look a lot like his late father, a scout leader for many years. I just don't see it, though. I imagine that it's probably just the uniform. I think the story teller looks more like Ron Swanson or  Tom Friedman or that one guy on Newhart.