Organization raises gay awareness in Boy Scouts

by Noel K. Wilson
Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO --- Calling themselves "Forgotten Scouts," homosexual men who
once were Boy Scouts are shipping their memoirs to scouting headquarters,
hoping to prove you can be trustworthy, loyal, helpful -- and gay.
        "The Boy Scouts need to be realistic about the gay scouts that are
in scouting," said William Boyce Mueller, grandson of Boy Scouts of America
founder William D. Boyce.
        "(They) need to rethink this whole issue and realize that gay
people have always been a part of it."
        Mueller and other gay organizers hope the memoirs of the "Forgotten
Scouts" will prove to scouting administrators the extent of gay and
bisexual involvement in scouting.
        The Boy Scouts of America has said that gays are excluded from the
organization based on a requirement in the Scouts' oath that members be
"morally straight."
        San Francisco Bay area journalists Randy Shilts and Armistead
Maupin, who were Eagle Scouts, will contribute memoirs.  Eagle Scout is the
highest rank attainable in scouting.
        Shilts, author of "And The Band Played On:  Politics, People and
the AIDS Epidemic," was one of the first journalists to raise public
awareness about the deadly virus.  Maupin is author of the popular "Tales
of the City" series, which originated as a local newspaper column.