Putting "Gay" In Quotes Is So Gay

Associated Press reporter David Crary, covering today's lamentable anti-gay ruling by the Boy Scouts of America, wrote:

The announcement suggests that hurdles may be high for a couple of members of the national executive board — Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson — who have recently indicated they would try to work from within to change the membership policy. Both of their companies have been commended by gay-rights groups for gay-friendly employment policies.

Stephenson is on track to become president of the Scouts' national board in 2014, and will likely face continued pressure from gay-rights groups to try to end the exclusion policy.

OneNewsNow.com, a website operated by the American Family News Network, published Crary's article but with some edits that I imagine Crary wouldn't appreciate and that in any event won't earn AFNN a merit badge in journalistic ethics. For instance:

The announcement suggests that hurdles may be high for a couple of members of the national executive board -- Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson -- who have recently indicated they would try to work from within to change the policy. Both of their companies have been commended by "gay"-rights groups for homosexual-friendly employment policies. Stephenson is on track to become president of the Scouts' national board in 2014, and will likely face continued pressure from homosexual-rights groups to try to end the exclusion policy.

Sorry, guys, but you lost the battle on the word gay about 30 years ago. Anyway, your readers know what it means. There's no sense in tying yourself in two half-hitches about it.

Perhaps the editor was anxious that the specter of change is lurking just outside the circle of security cast by the campfire. As Crary reports, an 11-member committee worked secretly for two years on the review of BSA's anti-gay policy. A Scout is brave, but not this time. It reminds me of an expression President Nixon liked to use: They labored and produced a mouse. Still, I'm inclined to agree with a thoughtful Scout whose prediction was deleted from Crary's article censored by the American Family News Network:

Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, an Iowa college student who was raised by lesbian mothers, said Tuesday's announcement didn't change his view that eventually the Scouts would relent under pressure from campaigns such as those that he and his allies have mounted.

“I'm sure they'll keep saying this until the day they decide to change the policy,” said Wahls.