Mandate that the Boy Scouts of America end its discriminatory practices against LGBT and atheist leaders and members.

I always have been and always will be incredibly proud of my Eagle Scout award. It took a lot of work, a lot of time, and I very nearly didn’t get it. But thanks to determination, and my dad absolutely refusing to stop riding my ass until I got it done (which I very much needed and am thankful for, to this day), I made it. I went Eagle. It was the culmination of more than ten years of work and dedication, and it’s something I still put on my resume today.

However, I was a different person at the time. I’ve grown a lot since then, both ideologically and morally. Being older, I’m more capable of seeing the world for what it is, rather than what my scout leaders or the handbook told me it was. I was aware of the controversy regarding the BSA’s anti-LGBT policies for leaders and scouts, but it all passed over my head as I was in the trenches of my Eagle Scout project and merit badges. Besides, I was told, as a private organization, the BSA has every right to discriminate as it sees fit.

But the BSA is far from a private organization. Its annual $10 million in government funding and status as a paramilitary organization assures that. It is publicly funded by yours, mine, and every other American’s tax dollars, and for that reason alone, it has to make a change: Either allow anyone to participate as leaders or scouts, regardless of their sexuality or stance on faith, or refuse public money and truly become a private organization. 

The Boy Scouts were an invaluable part of my young life, and I would be a radically different person if it weren’t for my time with them. I want to continue being able to tell people I’m an Eagle Scout, and bragging about how much fun I had and how much I learned. I want my son, should I have one (or more), to be a Boy Scout and go as far as his ambitions will take him. I don’t want to send in my Eagle badge. I want to continue to link myself to this long-lived and proud institution, but if this discriminatory practice continues I won’t be able to. As an atheist, I won’t be able to be a leader in my son’s troop without lying about who I am, and that isn’t the kind of example I want to set for my children.

I ask that the BSA not make me choose between my Eagle Scout badge and my personal set of principles, because I consider them to be inextricably linked. End decades of bigotry and ignorance, and truly be an open group for all boys and parents of all stripes and credos. Allow me to give my sons what my father gave me.