I want to personally congratulate former Chief Bratton, Chief Beck, Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger, and the LAPD Commissioners for, once again, setting an excellent example for other law enforcement agencies in California. As of January 1, 2010, the Los Angeles Police Department Explorer Program will no longer be affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. Why? Because the Boy Scouts of America discriminates based on sexual orientation and religion.
The Boy Scouts of America organization excludes non-heterosexuals from participation in their programs. Many law enforcement agencies, including the one I started at, operate an Explorer Program under the guides of the Boy Scouts of America. I discovered my passion for law enforcement by starting my career at the age of 14 as a Police Explorer. But, if I had come out or was out when I applied, I could have been excluded from participation. I witnessed a fellow member of the Explorers be kicked out of the program after it was discovered he was gay. His dream of becoming a police officer was shattered from the experience.
What’s really important here and now is that the Los Angeles Police Department has set the example for agencies large and small to follow. They are continuing to offer a law enforcement career exploration program for young people, but one that is fully inclusive. LAPD isn’t just paying “lip service” to promoting inclusion within their department, they are demonstrating it and more law enforcement agencies in this country need to follow the lead of LAPD.
December 28th, 2009 - 10:34 am
Don’t Boy Scouts discriminate against gays and atheists?
Answer: Boy Scouts of America is one of the most diverse youth groups in the country, serving boys of every ethnicity, religion, and economic circumstance and having programs for older teens of both sexes. That Boy Scouts also has traditional values, like requiring youth to do their “duty to God” and be “morally straight” is nothing to be ashamed of and should not be controversial. No court case has ever held that Boy Scouts discriminates unlawfully, and it is unfortunate here that anyone would characterized Boy Scouts’ constitutionally protected right to hold traditional values as “discriminatory.” That is just name-calling.