A Tale of Twin Eagle Scouts: One Gay, One Straight, One In, One Out

Twin brothers Liam and August Easton-Calabria are twins, and like most twins they grew up doing everything together, even joining the Boy Scouts at age eleven; they are identical twins, and identical in Boy Scouts, having earned the same twenty-two merit badges; they have done everything together, but soon enough, some of it will stop.

This past weekend Liam and August, seniors at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, became Eagle Scouts at an awards ceremony, only now Liam will be kicked out of the organization at age twenty-one because he’s gay; last May the Boy Scouts of America [BSA] held a controversial vote that allows gay youth, but not adults, to participate in the organization so Liam, as an adult, will be out … because he’s out.

After ten years with the Boy Scouts, and after coming out in high school, Liam's sexual orientation has never affected his standing in the Scouts, but on his twenty-first birthday, when he completes his commitment to BSA's Venture Crew, he will no longer be allowed to participate with the Boy Scouts of America. 

Gay, bad, you know.

Not surprisingly, August and Liam are part of a Boy Scout troop run by Geoff McGrath — see my post HERE — who is also openly gay. Last month, the BSA pulled the charter from Rainer Beach United Methodist Church because they wouldn’t step aside and let McGrath be kicked out of his position.

The BSA punished the church and the entire troop because McGrath is gay, and now will also punish Liam Easton-Calabria for the same reason.

Still, even with the threat of being asked to leave the organization, Liam still has fond memories of his time in Scouting and hopes to share the experience with his own children someday.

"It's really, really important to me, and I'm going to do as much as I can, to see my children in scouting with me involved."

And hopefully the BSA will have a much more accepting policy by then.

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