Steven Cozza, Eagle Scout, The Healing Ceremony Speech

Steven Cozza, Eagle Scout
Healing and Reconciliation Ceremony Speech
Trinity Episcopal Church
May 21, 2000

Welcome everyone. It is so nice that you have come to join us in this healing ceremony.

After I learned that the Boy Scouts of America discriminated against gays, I guess I could have continued to go on outings. I love backpacking into the wilderness. I could have ignored how their policy hurt my gay friends. And if I remained silent, I would still be in my troop today, enjoying scouting with my dad.

Would I have been a good scout if I had kept quiet and pretended no one was being hurt?

That's what the leaders of the Boy Scouts of America would have liked me to do. They refuse to feel the hurt they have caused. They pretend they are doing good by having a policy of discrimination, that hurts people and teaches scouts to
discriminate.

Would I have been a good scout if I followed the leadership of the Boy Scouts of America by remaining silent?

If that is what the Boy Scouts of America teaches its scouts then I would be ashamed of the uniform I'm wearing today. I'm proud to be a scout an Eagle Scout. I'm following the Scout Law and Oath. It is the Boy Scouts of America who isn't following their own Scout Oath and Law

You see, there is nothing in Scouting that says gays should be discriminated against. It is the current leadership of the Boy Scouts of America who is leading scouting into the darkness of bigotry, hatred, and discrimination.

How can the Boy Scouts of America who is supposed to represent the very best in our society embrace the very worst, - bigotry and discrimination? - That doesn't even make sense.

Most of all the email Scouting For All receives that support the Boy Scouts of America's policy of discrimination are filled with words of hatred, violence, and bigotry.

You see the Boy Scouts of America's policy of discrimination against gays brings out the very worst in us as a people. Their policy doesn't contribute to society. It doesn't help make the world a better place. It just adds to the problems we face as a society, as a people.

Closing Remarks
I ask all other scouts and adult leaders who believe in the true values of scouting to stand with us and not to remain silent while gay kids and adults are being hurt by the Boy Scouts of America.

Let's reach out to one another, both gay and straight, to help make this earth a better place. Then maybe the Boy Scouts of America will someday come to see how they hurt us, both gay and straight by their policy of discrimination. Maybe someday the Boy Scouts of America will learn to honor and cherish the diversity of the human family. Lets teach them by speaking out, taking a stand, by not allowing ourselves to become silent when others are being hurt.