[jlgreco]

> The Scouts are a great organization on a local level

At the local level it is hit or miss. You end up with people who don't care if you are gay or an atheist, or it becomes a problem. Because the national organization is bigoted, people who experience discrimination at the local level are left with no recourse. I cannot advocate for "local BSA" because I know nothing of the particular troop somebody will interact with, but I do know that "national BSA" are scumbags. The best I could possibly do is tell people that a particular troop was decent.

(My troop was filled with bigoted shitheads. I got a "get eagle scout or we cut you off and kick you out at 18" ultimatum, and got eagle scout a few months before I turned 18. I did manage to never have the award ceremony though, that was my little personal victory.)

[BHSPitMonkey]

> My troop was filled with bigoted shitheads. I got a "get eagle scout or we cut you off and kick you out at 18" ultimatum, and got eagle scout a few months before I turned 18.

You age out at 18, and become ineligible to rank up on your birthday. That has nothing to do with your troop... Even if they wanted to make an exception for you, they couldn't. It's the same rule for everyone.

[jlgreco]

You have misunderstood, the ultimatum was from my parents. The troop was bigoted because the troop leaders openly hated atheists and gay people.

I wanted nothing to do with them but was emotionally/financially blackmailed into completing the program. In retrospect I had more capacity for independence than I gave myself credit for at the time, but it was a shitty thing for my parents to do (we have since come to terms about this though).

[nightpool]

Might want to clarify that in your post, I came to the same conclusion :)