It’s time to unmute the story of Scott Ford and Scott Vance

“National wire services have carried a story from Mankato, MN., reporting that an Explorer post Advisor had refused to renew the membership of two young men who said they were homosexuals.”

That’s the opening sentence of the letter written by the Boy Scouts of America National Office in February of 1978. This letter contains the first mention of what would become the BSA’s official policy of excluding openly gay members.

The “story from Mankato” referenced in that letter was the story of Scott Vance and Scott Ford being expelled from police explorer’s post 243 by Mankato police sergeant Lowell Creel. Prior to their expulsion Ford and Vance had come out to each other in a private conversation.

“Morally Straight: The Story of How the Fight for LGBTQ+ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts and America,” the recently released book by Mike De Socio, tells the history of the Boy Scouts of America’s policy of excluding openly LGBTQ members.

I myself have spent time researching the story of Ford and Vance being expelled from the Mankato police explorer post and how they went public to expose the existence of discrimination here. I have spent a lot of time trying to track down Vance and Ford to hear their perspectives on what happened.

De Socio was able to track down Vance and interviewed him for Morally Straight. When I reached out to him, he was even able to put me in touch with Vance, a favor I am truly grateful for.

It took a bit of work but I was also able to track down Ford and interview him over the phone. Ford’s story is harrowing in many ways.

“The police sergeant that led the group, I had come out to a couple of my fellow students at Wilson Campus school and word got back to him that there were two people in his unit that were gay. And that was Scott Vance and myself,” Ford told me when I spoke with him.

After he was expelled, Ford spoke before the Mankato city council to protest what had happened. His plea was ignored by the council. “Council mute to plea from gay youth,” was the headline in The Free Press the next day.

As a result of being outed to his family, Ford would be forced to undergo conversion therapy, which included electroshock therapy. After one treatment, Ford refused to undergo any further treatments and was kicked out of his home.

“I just don’t like going back to Mankato at all because of that experience,” Ford said.

Vance, whose story can be found in “Morally Straight,” told De Socio that he spoke during a press conference in which the Associated Press had a journalist present. While the plan for the press conference was to have Ford speak, Ford froze and instead Vance told their story.

Afterward, according to Vance, while he encountered those who expressed support and appreciation for what he had done, he also became the target of threats and harassment.

Both Vance and Ford felt that the Mankato police turned their backs on them following their experiences. 

While both had entered the explorer’s post with the intention of becoming police officers, neither ultimately would.

In May of 2024, the Boy Scouts of America announced  it would change its name to Scouting America in 2025 as part of their attempts to be more inclusive. The policy of expelling LGBTQ members was repelled in 2015.

One hopes that these changes hold and that Scouting America never goes back to a policy of exclusion.

Write to jeremy.redlien@gmail.com