When I became an Eagle Scout four years ago, nobody knew I was gayâ??I was still in the process of accepting it myself. If I had told anyone, I would not have been given the award, despite a decade of involvement with scouting, countless hours with dozens of volunteers installing a garden at my elementary school, and more than a hundred nights camping in the California wilderness.
Becoming an Eagle Scout was one of my proudest achievements as a teenager. My parents were thrilled as I was presented with the award in the Mormon chapel where my dad, the bishop of our local congregation and a former scoutmaster, had received his. As I thanked my peers and leaders for their support, I spoke from the same pulpit where a few years earlier, a letter had been read announcing the churchâ??s decision to intervene in the battle over Proposition 8, which amended Californiaâ??s constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. The ensuing fight entangled California, the church, and the Boy Scouts of America in an intense cultural debate that has continued to play out in my own life and around the country.
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