Boy Scouts Gay Ban & Policy: Teen Boy Scount Loses Summer Camp Job for Being Outed as Gay on Facebook
Despite Garrett Bryant's attempts to hide his sexuality in order to maintain his youth staff position at the Boy Scouts of America, the 19-year-old Arizona college student was fired after a Facebook friend accidentally outed him.
Bryant, a longtime member of the Boy Scouts, lost his job at a summer camp with the Boy Scouts after a friend insinuated that he was gay on Facebook. As a result, he was turned down for a leadership position last month because of his sexuality.
According to Scouting policy, gay teens are admitted into the Boy Scouts, but gay adults are not allowed in the organization.
The Northern Arizona University freshman said he had no problem keeping his sexuality a secret from the Scouts. Yet, after he changed his relationship status on Facebook to signal that he was involved with someone, a friend left a comment on his page saying "Oh, good for you, man, what's his name?'" Even though he deleted the comment within 24 hours, Bryant says that someone from the organization saw it.
"I viewed my sexuality as something I was going to keep private. It was my private life. I wasn't going to share it with the BSA," said Bryant, who joined the BSA when he was in third grade, according to NBC News. "They made an issue of my sexuality. I was perfectly content with staying in the closet with the Scouts."
Because he started attending the summer camp as an 11-year-old Boy Scout, he said he took his firing really hard.
"It's like you're a part of a family and you're being disowned from it," he said.
"I did the best I could to follow BSAs 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy for gay members," Bryant told the New York Daily News. "But I couldn't control other people outing me, even if by accident. Following the rules as being an Eagle Scout apparently weren't enough for me to stay on camp staff."
Bryant says that when he inquired about why he was turned down, he was told "homosexuality" was the reason.
"I felt just extreme sadness," he said, adding that "I am not one to cry easily. It was pretty intense."