This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Boy Scouts just announced that the organization is considering ending its longtime ban on gays ("Boy Scouts considering retreat from no-gays policy," Tribune, Jan. 29).
Instead, "the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with each organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs," BSA spokesman Deron Smith said. "The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances … require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs."
Hooray! The Boy Scouts of America has just affirmed a bedrock American tradition: respect for American pluralism, expressed so beautifully by the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith: to allow all "the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of [their] own conscience … let them worship how, where, or what they may."
Now, if Mormons will only let the government follow the Boy Scouts' example, and let people marry according their own principled beliefs, religious or otherwise. Mormons don't have to marry gays, but people who believe different should be allowed to.
This change by the Scouts is the real tipping point in American acceptance of gay marriage — the war is won.
Tim Vincent
Moab