By Katy Savage, Standard Staff
Travis Ramsey, a former Eagle Scout in Hartland, remembers he “wasn’t pleased” in the mid-1990s with the organization he considers “such a powerful program” excluded people who were atheist. Around that same time there was a court ruling that said Boy Scouts of America could turn away people based on gender.
“I remember a lot of Eagle Scouts were upset,” said Ramsey, who was leaving the organization around that time.
Since then, the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that’s been around for 105 years, has become known nationally for its exclusivity and has been scolded for being discriminatory.
Ramsey credits what he learned in Boy Scouts for giving him a head start on his music-teaching career.
“I would like to see it be more inclusive,” he said.
One major step in that direction was made earlier this summer.
The Boy Scouts of America announced July 27 that gay people could be scout leaders — a move that some say was needed as membership declines and financial support plummets.
“Status quo in our movement’s membership standards cannot be sustained,” Boy Scouts of America President Robert Gates said in a meeting in May.
This past year national membership dwindled 7.4 percent to 2.4 million and in 2013 enrollment declined 6 percent.
There have been no immediate changes in the struggling Green Mountain Council, or indication that the policy change will bring any future change to Vermont’s units.
In this state membership has declined from 10,000 in 1999 to about 3,000 now and fundraising budget is down to $1.2 million—about $200,000 less than what it was when Green Mountain Council Chief Executive Officer Ed McCollin took the position in 2010.
McCollin has tried to get the word out about the policy change. He’s sent memos to newspapers, school superintendents and organizations that have previously turned down funding opportunities due to the organization’s exclusivity. He hopes that now the “600-pound gorilla is gone,” the organizations might be able to grow for the first time in 15 years.
Parents, he hopes, will say, “’I can now openly and comfortably allow my son to be part of Boy Scouts.’ That’s the first item we want to have happen because we need to grow,” he said.
McCollin has reached out to about a dozen organizations that have previously declined to give money to the Boy Scouts.
No organizations have offered financial support so far.
“I tell you, it’s been a tough road,” McCollin said. “Until this pendulum swings and people realize it’s about the kids and the youth…it’s going to be a while before some of these companies and businesses come around.”
Polls show Vermont has long supported a more inclusive Boy Scouts.
Seventy-five percent of the 400 people who responded to a 2013 survey felt the membership standards should be changed to be more inclusive. Three people of the Green Mountain Council went to national headquarters in Texas at that time to vote in favor of a resolution allowing gay youth to be part of boy scouts.
The Woodstock Rotary Club, which chartered the Boy Scouts about 75 years ago and has continued its support, will still finance it.
“In my history I don’t think it’s ever been an issue,” said Rotarian Dwight Camp.
Tom Ramsey is the unit commissioner in Hartland and Woodstock. He’s charged with making sure the Scouts in both those towns prosper — a major struggle lately.
Hartland has maintained about 20 members since 2000, but the Cub Scout population has dwindled and there have been no “cross overs” from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts for two years.
“If you don’t have Cub Scouts, you don’t have much of a Boy Scout future,” Tom Ramsey said.
Part of the problem, he said, is a generational gap in millennial parents who grew up seeing the organization portrayed in a poor light. He said new parents have been reluctant to sign their kids up for Boy Scouts because of it.
“The national press over the last 10 years has been a distraction for a lot of folks,” Tom Ramsey said.
But he doesn’t think the change in national policy will have much impact locally.
“As far as damage, it’s been done. It’s been happening over the past 10 years,” he said. “We’re going to have to kind of start over.”
Tom Ramsey has never heard comments about gay leaders in his tenure and to him it doesn’t matter.
“Right now we’re anxious to have someone raise their hand and say, ‘I’d like to be a Scout leader,’’’ he said.
Tom Ramsey, who is supportive of the policy change, is looking for two new leaders as the Boy Scout and Cub Scout leaders in Hartland are stepping down as their sons graduate.
The Boy Scouts also have to compete with other sources of entertainment.
“It’s not socially encouraged to do something like Boy Scouts. It may be something that’s old fashioned or maybe cheesy,” said Sam Williamson, a former Eagle Scout in Hartland, who now is the unit commissioner for Norwich.
Cub Scout leaders around the state are preparing a number of open houses to try to increase interest in the organization.
What will happen if the Boy Scouts don’t see a turn around concerns the leaders every day.
“The Boy Scouts of America have a real financial challenge,” McCollin said. “Where it’s going to end, I don’t know. Every day I come to work and I’m thinking of new ways to raise revenue and sustain it.”
Williamson said the true test of the policy change will come in the future.
“When the dust settles in a couple years, that’s when I think we’re going to see the major effects,” he said.
How the Boy Scouts are impacted will depend on national opinion. Although polls have shown Vermont is supportive of gay people, other states are not.
“There are definitely certain organizations that may not continue with the support of Boy Scouts,” he said.
This article first appeared in the September 17, 2015 edition of the Vermont Standard.