Leave the Boy Scouts of America alone

BBC links to a poll which says that 55% of US voters want the BSA to end its ban on homosexual leaders.
The BSA is only answerable to US voters in the sense that its adult leaders and parents of scouts are US voters. It is answerable to its members and no one else. President Obama may be its honorary president, but he has no power to change the BSA's policy.
In fact, those with the power to change the policy have decided to delay rather than decide.


This should be an issue that concerns only a small number of people. The LGBT population makes up about 3.5 percent of the population. Counting adult and child members, the BSA numbers 3,688,619, or a bit over 1% of the population. Yet these two groups have an impact well out of proportion with their numbers. Most Americans think that homosexuals comprise a much larger percentage than they actually do, assuming in 2011 that those of homosexual orientation make up more than 25% of the populace. On the other hand, 57.4% of all astronauts had involvement with scouting, large percentages of cadets and midshipmen at Annapolis, West Point, and the Air Force Academy, were involved in scouting with, over ten percent of all cadets and midshipmen being Eagle Scouts, and large numbers of serving congressmen (209 of 635) and state governors (15 of 50) have been involved with scouting. 
Thus it is easy to see why the majority of the populace feels the need to get involved. One group has great influence among certain very important organizations, while the other is perceived as being much larger than it actually is.

I am not in favor of the BSA allowing homosexuals in its ranks, and so long as the majority of the populace continue to stick their noses where they don't belong, and tell the BSA what is should and shouldn't do, my originally mild opposition will remain hardened.