CROSBY, Minn. - The national war over gay rights has claimed a small group of Cub Scouts in Crosby as victims.
Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops within the Boy Scouts of America are each organized around a charter with a particular civic organization or church. In the case of Cub Scout Pack 100, their charter was with Lifespring Church, a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America.
The Scouts stored equipment and conducted meetings inside the church on Tuesday nights.
That is, until the Boy Scouts of America voted unanimously in July to allow gay adults to serve openly as leaders.
The church recently informed adult leader Michelle Hage that they wouldn't be renewing the pack's charter at the end of the year, Hage said-effectively threatening the pack's existence just as its leaders gear up for a key fall recruitment drive.
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The reason was because the national scouting organization's move to accept gay leaders conflicted with Lifespring's ideals, Hage said.
"They asked us to leave because it was against their religious beliefs," she said. "I was shocked, I didn't even see it coming."
Hage said she emailed each family in the pack to make sure that each of the roughly 13 scouts - first through fifth graders - understood it wasn't their fault. Nevertheless, the Scouts were still "very confused."
"They just didn't understand why we were asked to leave over someone's preference and who they wanted to be with," she said.
Ken Toole is executive of the Pine Tree District, the local BSA administrative district that includes Pack 100 as well as 24 other Scout units.
Toole said he was "disappointed" at Lifespring's decision, especially in light of the fact the BSA has left the option to church-chartered groups of continuing to ban gay leaders if doing otherwise would violate the church's religious tenets.
"Nothing has really changed, especially for a church," he said. "The national (Scouting) organization has come out with statements of support for all religious organizations that fully support and back any determination that they have (regarding) selecting their own leaders. This is the exact same situation that they were in before."
Pack 100 won't have to wait long for a new sponsor, Toole vowed.
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"Before the end of the year, we will find them a new organization to charter with," he said. "All of our units are chartered by an organization that supports youth."
Hage said she was looking into possibly chartering with the local Lions Club.
Other churches within the Pine Tree District were also considering ending their charters with Scout groups, Toole said, but he declined to identify them.
"Those are private conversations that we're having," he said. "The charter organizations have asked not to disclose that information at this time."
Lifespring Pastor Eric Anderson was scheduled to be on vacation until Sept. 9 and was unavailable until then, a voicemail greeting message said.
Contacted Friday, church elder Rob Westin referred questions to Elder Board chair Mike Hyland, who did not immediately return multiple phone messages and an email.
However, a spokesperson contacted through the Evangelical Free Church of America branch in Minneapolis said each member church in EFCA operates independently and makes its own decisions.
"As a denomination, we would not have any influence one way or the other whether a church has a Cub Scout group," he said. "That's a decision made at the local church level."
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EFCA does not have a position on the Boy Scouts of America's decision to allow gay leaders, the spokesperson said.
