Boy Scout Camp Leader Comes Out And Condemns Organization’s Policies

Last July, a 22-year-old Eagle Scout named Tim Griffin was fired from his position on the staff at Camp Winton, where he’d worked for eight years, because he was gay. Officials from the Boy Scouts of America claimed it was because of his appearance and mannerisms, but other staff at the camp confirmed it was because of his sexual orientation. That, along with numerous other manifestations of the BSA’s anti-gay policy this year, prompted Derek Nance to come out as well.

Nance is also an Eagle Scout who has worked as a program director at Mataguay Scout Ranch in Southern California for 10 years. In a video posted on YouTube on Thursday, he explains that he couldn’t bear to keep his secret from his camp family any longer:

NANCE: I am gay… I live with camp friends, I attend school with camp friends, and I go out drinking at night with camp friends, and yet I’ve had to keep part of my life secret from them. The little things are the most frustrating. For instance, I can’t giggle when a boy texts me while I’m at camp. I can’t comment on how cute an actor looked in a movie we went and saw that weekend. And I can’t share with them the emotional roller coaster everyone feels while they fall in and out of love. I’m open to all my friends and family in “real life,” but to the people I truly feel closest to, I’ve had to remain distant.

Which is why I’ve chosen this moment to open up to them, and to every other staff member of the Boy Scouts of America who is in the same position I am in. The only way we will change the Boy Scouts’ discriminatory policies is if those of us who are on the front lines representing them to thousands of scouts every single summer start engaging in some open dialogue on this issue. Lawsuits from the ACLU or “confidential reviews” by the Boy Scouts are not going to change policies. The first step to coming to an agreement on this issue is to drop the old pretenses and stereotypes and to start actually talking.

Watch Nance’s courageous video:

Nance joins a growing coalition standing up against the antiquated policy. Every instance in which the Boy Scouts maintains that it is better off without gay scouts and leaders further demonstrates how pointless the discrimination truly is.

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Obama condemns deadly attack on Algerian gas complex

President Obama on Saturday said the United States condemns "in the strongest possible terms" the actions of al-Qaeda-linked hostage-takers following reports that around 23 hostages died as a standoff between Islamist militants and Algerian forces came to a bloody end.

In a statement, the president expressed sympathy for the families of those who were killed or injured in the "terrorist attack," saying "the thoughts and prayers of the American people" are with them.

"The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms," Obama said in a statement. "We have been in constant contact with Algerian officials and stand ready to provide whatever assistance they need in the aftermath of this attack."

On Wednesday a group of Islamist militants attacked a gas field in Eastern Algeria and claimed to have taken a multinational group of workers at the complex hostage. There were varying news reports about how many Americans were taken hostage in the attack.

Obama said the U.S. would continue to work with its foreign partners to "combat the scourge of terrorism in the region, which has claimed too many innocent lives."

"This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa," he said.

Algerian special forces stormed the complex on Saturday, ending a battle that left at least 23 hostages dead, while all 32 militants were killed, according to the Associated Press, citing the Algerian government. One American is confirmed dead, but Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said at this point it's unclear how many other Americans were killed at the complex, The New York Times reported.

The president said the U.S. would work with the Algerian government "in the coming days" to gain a better understanding of what transpired during the attack at the complex.

"In the coming days, we will remain in close touch with the Government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent tragedies like this in the future," Obama said. 

— This post was updated at 8:06 p.m.

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Chicago Cardinal Condemns Illinois Lawmakers For Considering Marriage Equality This Week

According to the Windy City Times, Illinois lawmakers may begin consideration of marriage equality as soon as this afternoon, when a bill is introduced in committee, with a vote as early as tomorrow. To pass before the end of the lame duck session, it must pass both the House and Senate by January 9th. This past weekend, the White House encouraged the effort, claiming, “Were the President still in the Illinois State Legislature, he would support this measure.” But the Catholic Archdiocese in Chicago was quick to rebuke the measure with a statement from Cardinal Francis George trying to claim the Church is not anti-gay because it supports gays and lesbians (if they’re chaste):

The Archdiocese offers Mass and other spiritual help to those who live their homosexuality anonymously (Courage groups) and also to those who want to be publicly part of the gay community (AGLO, which celebrates its twenty fifth anniversary this year). People live out their sexual identity in different ways, but the Church offers the means to live chastely in all circumstances, as the love of God both obliges and makes possible.

Should the lame duck legislature or the new Assembly take up the passage of a “same-sex marriage” law, it will be acting against the common good of society. We will all have to pretend to accept something that is contrary to the common sense of the human race.

George went on to claim that marriage equality puts society “in danger” because “our individual lives become artificial constructs protected by the civil ‘rights’ that destroy natural rights.” Aside from intending to sound scary, it’s unclear that the Church is able to articulate any valid consequence for marriage equality, choosing instead to demean same-sex families by claiming it’s “physically impossible” for them to “consummate a marriage.” George has a history of such incendiary rhetoric, having compared the gay rights movement to the Ku Klux Klan in December, 2011.

A poll conducted in early December shows a plurality of Illinois voters (47 percent) support marriage equality, especially those under the age of 45 (58 percent).

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