This is what standing for equality looks like…
September 11, 2012
Wayne Brock, Chief Scout Executive
The National Boy Scouts of America Foundation
1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane
Irving, Texas 75015-2079
Dear Mr. Brock-
I am an Eagle Scout.
Whenever someone would ask me if I’d been a Boy Scout, I’d smile and say that. I am an Eagle Scout. Never was. That implied that the award was a milestone I’d walked past, something I was supposed to put behind me on the road to adulthood. My Scoutmasters taught me that wasn’t the case. Everything I learned, from my merit badges to my service project to my recitations of the Scout Oath and Scout Law, they became a part of me, and I was to carry those lessons with me the rest of my life.
I am an Eagle Scout.
Until now.
I am returning this medal and these patches to you, because I can no longer keep them. They are symbols of an organization that has taken its basic ideals and twisted them in the name of bigotry. By excluding LGBT adults from leadership roles and by excluding LGBT Scouts, the BSA has shown they are not friendly, courteous, or kind. By hiding the names of the committee who decided to keep the BSA’s discriminatory policies in place, the BSA is not brave.
You are cowards, and bullies, and bigots, and I won’t have anything to do with you.
From now on, when people ask me if I was in Scouting, I’ll tell them I was an Eagle Scout. And then I’ll tell them why.
Sincerely,
Adam R. Rakunas
Troop 339
Costa Mesa, CA
