SEEKS ACTION: Will Oliver
CHALLENGE: Nat Geo’s series “Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout?” premieres this spring. (
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A former Boy Scout is pushing for Nat Geo to put a disclaimer on its upcoming series, “Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout?”
Will Oliver, who earned his Eagle Scout badge, doesn’t want Nat Geo to kill the reality show — in which civilians compete against Boy Scouts in a series of challenges — but to note that the Boy Scouts of America’s policy toward gays is, as he says, “discriminatory.”
“The Boy Scouts’ policy membership states explicitly that openly gay scouts and leaders cannot join — they can be gay, but they have to be in the closet, and expressions of sexual orientation are not welcome,” says Oliver, now 20 and a student at Northwestern University.
(Oliver didn’t come out of the closet until after he’d left the Boy Scouts.)
Oliver, who hails from Massachusetts, has launched a petition on change.org, asking Nat Geo to “denounce the Boy Scouts of America’s anti-gay policy” by putting a disclaimer on its series, scheduled to premiere this spring.
The petition had accrued over 3,000 signatures as of late yesterday. “It’s kind of a sticky situation in which to put Nat Geo, because in the past they’ve been so supportive of gay rights and initiatives in their employment practices, and in promoting gay-rights causes,” Oliver says.
“I don’t know how [the disclaimer] should be worded, because it would be difficult to be airing a program at the same time they’re disclaiming it.”
Oliver said he was spurred to start the petition after reading about 18-year-old Boy Scout Ryan Andresen. Last week, after a protracted battle, BSA’s national office denied Andresen his Eagle Scout rank, citing his “avowed homosexuality.”
“The thing that gets me is the image of [Nat Geo’s] show and branding being all about how Boy Scouts are tough,” says Oliver. “I’ve done some pretty gritty things . . . I’m gay and I’m an Eagle Scout and I did it. I want it to be clear that being tough and being a Boy Scouts does not exclude gay people.”
“We do not discriminate in any capacity,” Nat Geo said in a statement. “As it relates to our upcoming show with the Boy Scouts, we certainly appreciate all points of view on the topic, but when people see our show they will realize it has nothing to do with this debate — and is, in fact, a competition series between individual scouts and civilians.”
“The BSA values the freedom of everyone to express their opinion,” BSA PR director Deron Smith said in a statement to The Post. “The focus of ‘Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout?’ is to inspire youth to abandon sedentary lifestyles, live healthier, and enjoy the great outdoors.”