CULTURE

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A Canadian pro-family leader says one only has to look to his country to understand the devastating consequences of allowing homosexuals to be members and leaders in the Boy Scouts. 

Obama says Boy Scouts should allow 'gays' as members WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says homosexuals should be allowed in the Boy Scouts of America. Obama's comments on CBS came ahead of this week's meeting of the Boy Scouts' national executive board. A proposal to let religious and civic groups that sponsor scout troops accept homosexuals is expected to be discussed and possibly voted on at the gathering in Texas. Obama, who serves as honorary president of the Boy Scouts, said he believes "no one should be barred." Some church groups expressed alarm at the proposed change as their congregations observed the annual Scout Sunday. Texas Gov. Rick Perry said emphatically Saturday that the Boy Scouts should not soften their no-"gays" membership policy. Perry is an Eagle Scout and wrote a book titled On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.

In November 1998, under the mantra of wanting to be more "inclusive," the board of governors overseeing scouting in Canada decided to admit females, atheists, agnostics, homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals into scouting. And in 1999,Scouts Canada approved the establishment of an all-homosexual troop. As a result, scouting membership rolls in Canada -- within five years -- dwindled to less than half what they had been (from 300,000 to 130,000).Brian Rushfeldt, president of Canada Family Action, says Canada opted for political correctness despite definitive evidence of the negative consequences.

"They have the secret files [here in Canada] as they do have down there [in the U.S.] of guys that had abused kids that they hadn't reported," he tells OneNewsNow. "There were investigations into the abuse of boys, which really never produced anything in Canada.

"The notion that we need to protect homosexuals more than we need to protect children ... has been a disturbing trend."

And Rushfeldt says he is afraid that is where U.S. scouting is heading if the ban is lifted. "I think that this move in the United States will be similar," he laments. "It will kill the organization -- and of course, that's a tragedy."

And it would be a tragedy as well, he shares, if Boy Scouts of America ends up marching in "gay pride" parades like the all-homosexual Canadian troop did.