Belong 2 linking up with Scouting Ireland. I feel this is extremely inappropriate

[Nonpoliticalmum]

Scouting Ireland is marching with Belong 2 in Dublin Pride. Given the historical background & legal cases within Scouting Ireland I do not feel comfortable with this. Surely scouting is supposed to be non political.
Parents pay huge membership fees, surely they should be consulted.
Also they are launching a "Rainbow Award" with Belong 2 according to their fb page which has comments turned off..

I don't feel that an organisation which believes in the Gender transitioning of children should be allowed work in such close proximity with Scouting Ireland. Especially after the Cass report findings & subsequent recommendations!
Scouting Irelands fb post said they would be working very closely with Belong To to implement to local scouting groups & have chosen to walk in Pride with Belong To. Surely Scouting Ireland is a large enough organisation to walk on it's own? Why align itself with Belong To?

Also @Marblessolveeverything we are getting nowhere here. So I am respectfully asking you to stop replying to me & my posts. You are more than welcome to stay on this thread that I started (which is your right!) but we will not agree. So please stop contacting & attempting to engage with me!

You don't seem to understand how 'starting a thread on the internet' works.

Anybody is allowed to reply, not just people who agree with you.

@Marblessolveeverything has made some really excellent points throughout this thread. If you have any reasoned argument to reply with, then you can (as can any of us), but just asking her to stop posting because she is putting some well reasoned arguments out there, emphasises the weakness of your position here.

If you read my post I asked her to respectfully stop replying to me specifically as we will not see eye to eye. If you also read my post I said it was her right to stay on the thread but to refrain from engaging with me which I am entitled to do.

I did read your post, and I still know that if you start a discussion on the internet, you have to grasp that some people might disagree with you, and they are very much entitled to post that on the thread.

I never asked the poster to leave the thread just to not engage with me as our viewpoints will not align & I prefer to agree to disagree.
It is my entitlement to request a poster to respectfully to stop replying to me. The poster can post on this thread as much as it likes.
The poster did actually reply to me after I requested it not to but I had already predicted that but has refrained to attempt to engage with me since & I appreciate that 🙏

https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2024/0613/1454622-scouts-court/

From yesterdays news. The article says Scouting Irelands safeguarding is being independently reviewed. I look forward to the findings & any policy changes.

In a statement this afternoon, Scouting Ireland said safeguarding is a priority for the organisation and its safeguarding procedures are independently reviewed.

it says that it’s procedures are independently reviewed. Not that they will be. I think they brought this in when the abuse scandals first hit the headlines.

I’d be more worried about them protecting children from the adults after reading that.

It is an organisation which includes much older young people, not just your children.

Just don't let your children attend if you're unhappy with this. You don't have an automatic right for things to be exactly the way that you want them. Paying the (incredibly good value given how much volunteer involvement keeps the Scout Movement going) fee doesn't change that.

As a scout volunteer myself parents who want things all their own way are a pita.

I understand you have concerns about Belong to . But I’m still struggling to see what impact this would have on your own children?

You don’t have to go to pride.

I don't want my children involved in anything that Belong To is rolling out such as the rainbow award. Scouting Ireland says this will be implemented in local groups scouts groups which sounds like it will affect my children.

What do you think the impact will be on them? I’m just wondering why we should be worried about this.

I have no idea what the impact big or small will be as parents /members have not be consulted. It is only shared on Scouting Irelands Facebook page & Belong 2 have details of the rainbow award on their website. It's the association with Belong 2 that deeply concerns me especially after the Cass report.

Sexuality has nothing to do with children. They are not sexually active so that doesn’t need exploring. And I’m not interested in ‘educating’ children on what adults get up to in their own private time. Why are children being expected to celebrate adults sexuality?

Children’s clubs should be centred on the child’s well being and enriching activities - not adult sexual behaviour.

Identity should be given a wide birth. It is confusing to kids at its least and dangerous at worst.

The mission creep of very adult issues needs to be kept out of children’s clubs.

Pride was originally to mark the Stonewall riots in 1969. I REALLY doubt the founders expected it or wanted it to be filtered in to children’s clubs.

My middle daughter has been called a lesbian in school. She thought she might be A sexual because she doesn’t fancy any one - boy or girl. I told her that’s because she is only a kid and not to label herself until she is older. She has just turned 11

Its confusing for children and only pushed for adult benefit

@Barefootsally sexuality isn't only relevant once a person is sexually active. Like it or not it becomes a part of a persons life way earlier than when the they loose their virginity. No doubt you're aware of the damage that feelings of confusion and shame can do do a young person who has any concerns about their sexuality, it is damaging to reinforce this with messages that they should or should not feel a certain way. The scout movement caters for a wide range of ages including Exploroers which runs from 14-18.

But it also caters for children from 5 years up in beavers & cubs from 4th to 6th class. The post on Scouting Irelands Facebook says this is a whole organisational approach which would imply beavers & cubs are included as they are part of the whole organisation.

Also I hope the independent organisation that is looking into Scouting Irelands safeguarding referred to in this article has read the Cass report & subsequent follow ups.
Belong To & other organisations should not be allowed to have any influence over youth organisations.

https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2024/0613/1454622-scouts-court/

I think there is an impact when adults play along with the trans stuff and expect kids to play along too. Trusted adults encouraging children to lie and deny their own reality to facilitate social transition of another child is not healthy in my opinion.

That's even without considering encroachments on other children's safety and dignity in the name of elevating gender above sex

Obviously that's without considering the impacts on the trans identifying child of pigeon holing them into an identity that may involve many long term and devastating impacts on their health

But hey, only a bigot would consider those impacts! No LBG without the T!!! Let's all just have a parade and wave a flag. Nothing to see here is there?...

Yes, absolutely those teenage years are a time of confusion and identity formation. It always has been. The problem nowadays is adult activists trying to hijack that identity formation.
Do you think the young person who is working out their sexuality is being well served by the gender ideology? Have you looked at the stats on how many trans identifying youth are actually gay?

i think you are mixing up learning about sexual behaviour and learning about sexuality there. Will you not be mentioning to your kids that LGBT+ people exist at all?

In my opinion any form of sexualisation is inappropriate in any type of organisation. I have the same issues with certain music artists with lyrics or clothing.
Children are sponges & are very accepted. My childen are friends with kids from two mom or two dad families, they have never questioned why their family set up is different to ours, the accept it, it's normal to them.

I'm not sure I understand your post about me being mixed up between sexual behaviour and sexuality. There is very little need to mention LGB people to my children as they know relations and friends of mine that are gay. It's not a big deal

I was trying to make the point that sticking that T onto LGB is what is mixing things up. A modern day version of homophobia actually

💯

I was referring to @Barefootsally ’s post

No one should be applying shame to any child and it’s extremely unhelpful to label a child gay or lesbian when they are young. We should encourage a ‘wait and see’ approach.

Rather than a ‘oh you think you’re gay at 8? Yay! Let’s celebrate that!’ . I was at a girls school - loads of girls had crushes on each other. Some of them even snogged but in reality they were not lesbian. We are in a really weird time when we are pigeon holing children unnecessarily - mostly to validate adults.

We have a same sex married couple in our family. They do not go to pride with their kids. But to be fair last year I bet didn’t even go to evening events as they felt unwelcome.

It’s strange that you associate not wanting Pride - which is now a political juggernaut- as wanting to instil shame in kids.

In this day and age most kids will have come across same sex couples. It’s pretty boring and basic tbh. It’s not new. This isn’t some new found phenomenon.

This big push is really to embed the T which has been forced on to the LBG.

My kids have two lesbian aunties. We both had IVF at the same time so our kids are pretty close. All a bit mundane really. None of them walk about with rainbow t-shirts either. And guess what .,, you can’t even tell they are lesbians 😮😉

Exactly. I have noticed pride seems very muted year, not nearly as much graphics & flags in stores. I think that shows the level & normality that lgb has reached in Ireland & is something to be proud of. Most people have friends & family who are gay & it is normal.