By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
A Virginia based mom was relieved of her duties as her son’s Boy Scout den leader after one of her assistant scout masters discovered she is a lesbian.
Denise Steele, a mother of two who’s in a domestic partnership with her partner of 19 years, Jackie Funk, took on the position of den leader for her 12-year-old son’s Boy Scout troop when no one else would, according to the Loudoun Times.
Steele made the decision to become a den leader despite the Boy Scouts of America organization’s assertion that “open homosexuality is inconsistent with the values.” The organization recommends that the sponsors of the individual troops hold to this same value.
Knowing that her partnership could pose a problem for her son, as well as her position as a leader within the organization, Steele made her scout master, Mike Tucker, aware of her long-term partnership with Funk. He responded saying that it wasn’t a problem, according to the Loudoun Times.
Steele was outed as a lesbian following a camping trip in June when her assistant scoutmaster Skip Inabinett pressed her for details about who the woman picking Steele up from the trip was.
Once Steele revealed to Inabinett that the woman coming to pick her up was her partner Funk, Inabinett fired off an email to a friend of Steele’s whose son was also in the troop. In the email, Inabinett asked the friend to do the dirty work of asking Steele to step down.
If what you said about Denise Steele being an active sexual is true, do you feel comfortable talking with her about stepping down/resigning as an ASM … as her friend, this may be an opportunity for you to share with her about Christ’s love and the need to believe that as sinners we cannot get to heaven on our own and that we need a savior,” Inabinett wrote.
Steele and Inabinett reportedly communicated several more times before she was removed, with most of the conversation involving his telling her that her lifestyle choice was a sin, according to the Loudoun Times.
Eventually, Inabinett went directly to the Boys Scouts of America to have Steele removed from her position, which did the trick.
“He didn’t go through those steps. He skipped over the scoutmaster, he skipped over the committee, he skipped over the district. He went straight to the highest level because that’s where he would get his answer. He went to the highest point to get me removed,” Steele said.
“She is no longer allowed to be near these scouts. She can’t go camping with them and she can’t be in a position of participation with them” Steele’s parnter Funk said.
Since “open homosexuality” is considered “inconsistent with the values” of the Boy Scouts of America organization, a representative from the troop’s charter organization — the relatively conservative Christian Fellowship Church — said Steele’s removal was a matter of following the rules. “We are simply doing what we agreed to do in our charter,” said Esther Schaeffer.
Pictured from Left: Jaden Steele, 9, Jackson Steele, 12, Denise Steele and Jackie Funk
