Concerned that an influx of gay teens will ruin their tender morals, one metro Atlanta church is kicking out its Boy Scouts troop now that it's sorta OK to be gay and a Scout. A second church is wringing its hands.
That didn't take long at all. The historic vote, with 61% in favor, took place on May 23. Now, Rev. Ernest Easley, pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, has had enough. The church is booting Boy Scout Troop 204, which has called the 2,300-member church home since 1945, by the end of the year.
"My greatest concern is the protection of boys," Easley said. "This decision opens the floodgate for a potential increase in sexual abuse of children."
Easley lifted a page out of the anti-gay playbook of Rev. Randy Mickler, senior minister at Mr. Bethel United Methodist Church, also in Marietta. He spewed his hate about gay Scouts in February.
But Roswell Street won't be the only church in Atlanta to turns it back on the Scouts. Luke Vancleave (photo), scoutmaster of Troop 317, says he expect Perimeter Church in Johns Creek to drops his troop.
"They are the ones that have dragged sexuality into the Boy Scouts," Vancleave said of the organization. "Therefore we can no longer have them as an option."
You'll remember Vancleave from his protest last month calling for the Scouts to vote down allowing gay troops. Too bad the smart gays that argued with him won. And this gay monk.
[11 Alive | First Coast News | ABP News]