Did National News Whitewash New Anti-Gay Scouting Group’s Eerie ‘Gesture’?

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Last May, when the Boy Scouts of America moved to allow gay Scouts into its ranks, some moved to form a new Scouting organization, after losing the battle to keep the gays out. In truth, there already were thousands of gay scounts in the BSA, the only real change was that now they could be honest about their sexuality. Ironically, the anti-gay contingent wanted the gay scouts to be dishonest — going against one of the pillars of the Boy Scouts creed.

Meanwhile, today, Twitter is erupting with posts of a screenshot from a San Jose Mercury News story, written by the AP, that depicts several boys standing in a circle with their arms raised in what eerily feels to many like a Nazi-esque salute — the dreaded and morally-offensive “Heil Hitler” we’ve all seen in countless movies, and some, sadly, have witnessed in real life.

Those boys are some of the members of the new scouting organization, Trail Life USA, a Christians-only and specifically anti-gay scouting group.

David Waldman, a Contributing Editor at Daily Kos who goes by the Twitter handle @KagroX tweeted the screenshot, asking sardonically, “Could anything really go wrong with a right-wing youth group like this?” And AmericaBlog founder John Aravosis also tweeted a screenshot, stating, “Trying to convince people you’re not a bunch of haters? Reconsider the one-armed salute.” Yet another Tweeter wrote, “That awkward moment when you join an anti-gay Scouts alternative and are accidentally a Nazi.”

Even the Religion News Service found the image questionable, asking, “Should BoyScout Christian alternative Trail Life have a WWII history badge?”

For their part, the San Jose Mercury News merely published what appears to be an unedited version of a wire story from the Associated Press (AP) and didn’t consider — or considered against — changing the lead photo. That image, taken by AP photographer LM Otero, is unnerving and disconcerting, to say the least. That it depicts a Christian anti-gay youth group is even more upsetting.

Meanwhile, other major news outlets changed the lead image. USA Today ran a different image altogether, and, according to at least one reader, MSN published the original photo, only opting to change it later.

But why?

Aren’t fact, facts?

Why wasn’t this image news?

Are these AP outlets, including MSN and USA Today, whitewashing the real story here — not that there’s a new group in town, but what they’re learning, intentional or not, is unacceptable?

The Washington Times — Ronald Reagan’s favorite paper when he was president — which also ran the AP story and original image, issued a correction for the image’s caption that reads:

In this Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014 photo, Trail Life members move their arms as they sing “Taps” in a circle during a meeting in North Richland Hills, Texas. Trail Life USA, the new Christian-based alternative to the Boy Scouts of America, excludes openly gay members.

Meanwhile, over at Business Insider, Hunter Walker investigated.

He reports that John Stemberger, the anti-gay founder of Trail Life “was ‘horrified’ when news organisations published a photo from one of its meetings in Texas that appeared to show a group of children giving the Nazi ‘Seig Heil’ salute.”

“We were horrified when we saw the photo in question on the MSN site and immediately investigated the situation,” Stemberger said in a statement Monday. “This is what we learned… Many Boy Scout Troops have a tradition of ending their troop meetings with the boys gathering in a circle and then singing the song ‘Taps’ which is a slow ceremonial piece of music played or sung at the end of the day. The Boy Scouts that do this closing ceremony start singing the song with their hands raised straight into the air with the scout sign and then gradually lower their hands till they get to the end of the song when hands are at their side. This longstanding Boy Scout tradition was being followed with this Texas Trail Life troop using the Trail Life sign.”