The legendary organization "Boy Scouts of America", through which millions of Americans have passed, which educated outstanding politicians and served as an example for many countries, was struck by a monstrous virus. "Boy Scouts" face bankruptcy due to massive lawsuits by those who were victims of violence from the instructors of this organization. How did this happen?
The Boy Scouts of America is the world's largest pedophile organization, according to American lawyers from the Abused in Scouting group, who are currently filing child sexual abuse lawsuits by Boy Scout counselors. The number of lawsuits has already reached 275, while 1,400 more allegations of ill-treatment are awaiting their turn. The scale of the scandal and financial losses of the "Boy Scouts of America" - an organization with a 110-year history registered by the US Congress - is so wide that on Tuesday, February 18, the leadership of the Boy Scouts, citing rising legal costs, declared bankruptcy.
According to preliminary estimates, the fund for payments to victims of pedophile boy scouts may amount to $ 1 billion, when compensation is required by 1-5 thousand people. Given the presence of Scouts of America branches in 50 states, the bankruptcy of the organization could become one of the largest and most difficult in US history.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance in American life of the national organization of Boy Scouts, which for a long time remained one of the most respected institutions in the eyes of American society. The origins of the Boy Scout movement can be traced back to a foggy London night in 1909, when Chicago publisher William Boyes lost direction on the gloomy streets and an unknown boy, posing as a scout, helped him reach his destination. Inspired by the teenager's refusal to take payment for a good deed, the publisher decided to bring the scout movement to American soil by all means. Upon his arrival in his homeland, Boyes united several local youth organizations and announced on February 8, 1910, the creation of the Boy Scouts of America. The founders of the organization decided, first of all, “to teach the boys patriotism, courage,independence and family values ”.
In more than a century of its existence, the Boy Scout organization has passed 110 million Americans (at its peak - 4.8 million a year), including Neil Armstrong, Martin Luther King Jr. and four US presidents. Therefore, bankruptcy represents a painful turn for an organization that has been a stronghold of American civilian life for several generations, as well as an important training ground for future leaders. For decades, politicians, businessmen, astronauts, and other Americans have been accustomed to citing the honorary title of Eagle Scout in resumes and official biographies.
For a long time, the Boy Scouts of America enjoyed the support of religious institutions, social organizations and businesses. The financial support has helped the organization acquire significant assets in the form of movable and immovable property. In particular, in its filing for bankruptcy, the Boy Scouts of America indicated that their assets range from $ 1 billion to $ 10 billion.
American Boy Scouts are no stranger to the modern tolerant agenda. In 2013, at the annual meeting in Nashville, the scout organization decided on the need for a tolerant attitude towards gay youth in its ranks. In particular, they announced their full support to those of them who want to come out and become openly gay.
In 2014, the ex-head of the CIA and the Pentagon Robert Gates, under which the US Army officially canceled the “Don't ask, don't tell” policy, which prohibited American servicemen of both sexes from openly admitting their non-traditional sexual orientation, supported the idea of using boy scouts of gay people. In July 2015, 79% of the Boy Scouts of America Council members voted to allow LGBT adults to serve as counselors, volunteer and hold leadership positions in the organization.
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This recruiting policy has led the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which for decades has been one of the largest sponsors of the Boy Scouts of America, has removed 400,000 children from the organization and included them in its own programs. The Boy Scouts of America, which have already lost 26% of their membership in the last decade, are expected to fall below 2 million for the first time since World War II. This means that membership fees, which make up a significant share of the organization's budget, will also be reduced.
Like many youth organizations, the Boy Scouts of America have been unable to avoid the problem of sexual and physical abuse in their ranks. The head of American Boy Scouts in the 1980s, James Tarr, once stated, "This problem has existed since the Boy Scouts first appeared." In the wake of the early scandals of the 1970s and 1980s, the Boy Scouts of America introduced a program designed to help teenagers, counselors and parents cope with the problem of violence. For example, for the first time it was officially forbidden for an adult scout to be alone with a child. Since 2003, all new counselors had to undergo a criminal background check, but only since 2008 did this affect the leaders of the scouts with long experience of work.
For many years, the Boy Scouts have managed to maintain their reputation, despite, for example, a high-profile investigation by the Washington Times in 1991 about cases of sexual and physical abuse among the ranks of the Boy Scouts. Summing up their research, the authors of the material wrote: "Boy scouts are a magnet for men who want to have sexual relations with children … Pedophiles join scouts for a simple reason: there are boys there."
Many Americans suspected cases of pedophilia in the ranks of the Boy Scouts, but in 2010 the first thunderbolt struck: a court in Oregon ruled to pay $ 18.5 million to Kerry Lewis, who was the victim of sexual abuse by counselor Timur Dykes in the 1980s. It is known that in 1983, Dykes confessed to his immediate superiors of harassing 17 boys, but was retained as a counselor, where he later met Kerry.
Journalist Patrick Boyle, author of The Scout's Honor: Sexual Abuse at America's Most Respected Institution, believes this high-profile judgment was the turning point. Prior to this incident, the Boy Scouts of America had managed to keep their problems with violence a secret, but suddenly everyone learned that the problem of pedophilia deeply affected the scout movement.
Further more. In 2012, the Los Angeles Times became aware of a secret list of perverts, where the "Boy Scouts of America", since the 1920s, entered all former employees exiled for sexual harassment and violence against teenagers. In October 2012, the Boy Scouts of America were forced by a court order to publish more than 20,000 pages of documents on 1,200 alleged cases of child sexual abuse recorded between 1965 and 1985.
In April 2019, the Boy Scouts of America admitted that more than 12,000 boys were sexually abused by over 7,800 of their former and current employees over 72 years. Perhaps this is not a complete list, since since 1970, the organization's leadership began to destroy evidence of sexual violence, if by that time the victim who suffered in childhood was 80 or more years old.
The fact is that, according to the 11th chapter of the US Bankruptcy Code, during the trial, the acceptance of applications from other victims will be suspended, and for an arbitrarily long period, especially when it comes to the bankruptcy of such a large organization, whose obligations are significantly inferior to it assets. "This is not a traditional bankruptcy," said Michael Merz, a Chicago-based lawyer representing some 300 former sexually assaulted scouts. - You usually declare bankruptcy when you have more debt than assets. I think this is an attempt to use the courts to limit the impact of future claims."
During the bankruptcy, some of the assets of the Boy Scouts of America will be used to settle accounts with victims of violence, but only with those who have already filed lawsuits. “If you apply after this period of time, you're out of luck,” Paul Mons, one of the organizers of the Bullying Scouting movement, confirms this hypothesis. Previously, similar tactics were used in the case of such claims by the Catholic Church.
In the midst of lawsuits, the Boy Scouts of America were forced to mortgage some of their major facilities, including the national headquarters in Irving, Texas, and the 140,000-acre Filmont Ranch in New Mexico. It is unclear whether the 261 local Boy Scouts, along with their assets, will be drawn into litigation (local branches are legally separate entities).
Be that as it may, but the organization "Boy Scouts of America", one of the pillars of American society, suffered colossal image and financial damage. If it does not find an opportunity to radically turn the tide, the title of "Eagle Scout" is unlikely to be as honorable in the future as it was a couple of years ago.
Author: Artyom Filippov