With this development it will be a lot more interesting getting one’s EXPLORER’S BADGE.

The Canadien on April 25, 2007 at 12:55 pm

ÖI also forsee an immediate return in popularity of camping overnight.
PARENTSÖboys are “pigs” at that age, and they are safe ONLY in the company of their male peers. IF you value your daughters keep them out of PAGAN Scouts!

The Canadien on April 25, 2007 at 1:01 pm

As far as I can recall, the gay lobbyists wanted to pressure the Boy Scouts” to allow the integration of homosexuals. I feel its the Boy Scouts constitutional right to decide on who they want to accept into their program without anyone trying to pull strings here. Its about time for the Scouts to toughen up and not genuflect to these p.c. bitch slappers or they will be subverting the values and principles that the Scout was founded on. The same goes for America.

Jew Chick on April 25, 2007 at 1:31 pm

Given all the ostracism they’ve taken from mainstream America, I don’t blame them. After all, they do have a mission to attract as many boys as they can, and if they see that fewer boys are sent their way, and fewer public facilities are made available to them, what does one expect?
Seriously, when I was young, there were the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. Whatever happened to that separate but equal/similar concept? Can boys now sign up for Girl Guides, given all the girly men their fathers are?

Infidel Pride on April 25, 2007 at 1:54 pm

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there a group known as the Girl Scouts? Do boys now get to sell cookies at the local Safeway? Someone here needs to read Christina Hoff Sommers. Google her name and learn a little about this kind of PC BS or just click here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1563978/posts

Rich B on April 25, 2007 at 6:00 pm

I was part of Girl Scouts when I was younger. I see no reason for them to now incorporate girls into the boy scout program /boggle.
I hope the girl scouts do not go away, I want my kid to be a blue bird, brownie then a girl scout..not a boy scout! What is wrong with people!

Highrise on April 25, 2007 at 6:02 pm

I have been ivolved in the Scouting program for over 38 years now. This Venturing is a separate program from the Boy Scouts and is a revamping of what was done in the Explorer program decades ago. The Eplorer program was Co-Ed as well.
What you posted was a local Council trying to drum up some additional membership.
Venturing has been around since the 90’s. I ran a Venturing Crew for over 9 years. It is designed as a co-ed program to give girls as well as boys the opportunity to learn about leadership and to learn skills. The Girl Scouts are very difficult to work with in some areas due to restrictions they put on activities such as Climbing and Caving.
The Exploring division was changed at the time Venturing was formed in order to focus solely on Career based opportunities. It is part of the Learning for Life group which teaches how to make ethical choices in life.
Around the world MOST Scouting organizations are co-ed. The US and Japan and a few others are the only ones that are not.
Please, Highrise, what is wrong with putting girls and boys who are 14 years and older together to learn leadership, to learn cooperation, to learn specific skills that they most likely won’t get anywhere else? Especially since the Girl Scout program HAS fallen to every complaint that went their way. The GS do not have any restriction on the sexual orientation of the leadership, they have removed Cheerful as an aspect of their “Law”. Requirements for having a belief in a higher being is thrown out.
The Boy Scout organization, along with the divisions of Cub Scouting, Varsity and Venturing still hold to standards. Which would you rather have your daughters a part of?
While GS is still a fine organization, I have found through my involvement with them, that there is a decided lack of standards between units. Some units are little more than Suzy homemaker lessons. Others offer a little in the way of high adventure, but the restrictions and paperwork needed for a weekend trip are rediculous.
Before you condemn a program offering, you should look to find out what it is really about. Learn the history of Scouting (which is 100 years old this year), research what is being done to develop programs that keep youth members in.
In the Supreme Court case of the BSA vs. Dale, which has caused significant drops in the membership of the Boy Scouts, it was decided that the Boy Scouts had the right to set leadership standards – a right guaranteed by our right of free association. Within that the BSA has the right to look to expand the program to include youth of the female persuasion.
This isn’t bowing to pressures from homosexual groups or feminist groups.
Please, before you comment on something, it would be helpful to know what you are talking about. I thought liberals were the main group of people who did that knee jerk reaction without seeking facts.

THE Old Goat on April 26, 2007 at 10:07 am

I have also been involved with Scouting for over thirty years, and I am in a shrinking minority of leaders who remain highly resistant and skeptical of the Venturing program. This is based on my personal experience. I am a Boy Scout Troop Committee Chairman.

We have a two year old “Venture Crew” that is essentially attached to our Troop, and relies on the Troop for about 95% of its program. They tag along on every camp-out, and “hang out” at our Troop meetings. The active “crew” consists of four teenage girls, and a single male who is nominally a Scout. The other three males are away at college, or are busy with their girlfriends.

The real downside to all of this is that these girls are there to essentially “hang out,” and some of our older boys (leaders) prefer to “hang out” with them, to the detriment of our Troop, which is made up of younger Scouts. I am becoming increasingly dismayed at this, and my discord with the Scoutmaster’s tolerance of “teh Girl’s Club” is driving me out.

Boy Scouts for Boys. It worked great for one hundred years, why mess with it?

FoxCC on February 23, 2010 at 2:49 pm

Thanks for this article. I now know where to sign my boy and girl up for unisex scouting. They will experience the wonders of life. They will also ignore the little tinny boxes that conservatives try to force them into. If my son wants to dance and my daughter wants to kill for a living, so be it. Please enjoy you disillusioned security and have a nice life.

Chris on April 16, 2011 at 11:12 am

This is an old thread that I wish you could update. I have my son in a BSA troop and my daughter always disliked the whole Girl Scout cookie thing. With High Adventure Venture Crew option I got both of my kids scratching their heads and giving it a solid thought to join together. I’m from Europe and most countries there have unisex scouting. Isn’t time for the US to catch up?

Peter on August 5, 2014 at 10:28 pm

I’m personally glad that unisex scouting is becoming more common. When my little girl was young, I took her to Girl Scouts and she (and many of the other girls) was bored out of her mind with the stereotypical tasks they had to do, like dancing, baking cookies, learning how to make chocolate, sewing, crafts, etc. It was rare that they ever got to do anything fun. Most of the time they were cooped up in a hall being taught menial tasks that were ‘appropriate’ for girls.

I ended up taking my daughter to a unisex scouts group and she really flourished there. There was more respect for the kids as individuals, rather than just their gender. They were all treated equally and allowed to do the same thing. Girls weren’t expected to sell cookies or learn how to cook or anything like that. They got to have fun, be kids, and learn!

Aron on April 18, 2015 at 10:15 am