Derek Nance, program director at
Mataguay Scout Ranch, came out gay to his scouting family in an It
Gets Better video posted on YouTube.
In the video, Nance, an Eagle Scout,
acknowledged the Boy Scout of America's ban on openly gay scouts and
leaders.
“[T]he time will come when LGBT
Scouts can openly serve on summer camp staff and participate in the
scouting program. But for now the most important thing we can do is
talk about the issue.”
“I am gay,” he added. “I'm open
to all my friends and family in real life but to the people I truly
feel closest to, I've had to remain distant.”
“Which is why I've chosen this moment
to open up to them, and to every other staff member of the Boy Scouts
of America who is in the same position I am in. The only way we will
change the Boy Scouts' discriminatory policies is if those of us who
are on the front lines representing them to thousands of scouts every
single summer start engaging in some open dialogue on this issue.
Lawsuits from the ACLU or 'confidential reviews' by the Boy Scouts
are not going to change policies. The first step to coming to an
agreement on this issue is to drop the old pretenses and stereotypes
and to start actually talking.” (The video is embedded on this
page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)