The Boy Scouts of America decided to let gay kids in yesterday, only that's not what really happened, is it? There have always been gay children in the Boy Scouts. What changed yesterday is that they won't kick you out if you tell people you're gay. So you won't be told by an adult authority figure – one wearing a uniform, no less – that you're weird and different and don't belong in the special club with the normal kids. I don't think it's much of a stretch to see how the Boy Scout's decision will save lives. We know what happens when we single gay kids out and tell them that their very existence is shameful. It often involves rope, or pills, or high places, or a gun a kid turns on himself.

They still won't let gay adults be leaders, so once you turn 18, you're out. But that will change eventually. Society is clearly moving in the right direction on the issue of treating gay people like actual human beings. We're maybe 20 years away from everyone pretending that the gay rights legacy belongs to them, the way people do today with the civil rights movement. If Republicans can claim Martin Luther King now, surely they can claim Matthew Shepard down the road.

But not today. Today there are people who would still look a gay child in the eyes and tell him "you don't belong here". Give the Westboro Baptist Church nutters credit: at least they don't hide what they believe. Is there really a substantive difference between "God Hates Fags" and "you aren't allowed to join the Boy Scouts"? The only reason anyone opposed the scout's policy change was the belief that being gay is somehow against God, that it makes God sad or angry. They like to mask the hate behind "hate the sin, love the sinner," but what good does that do you when the sin is who you are?

Yes, Christ is love, but he is also wrath, vengeance, and redemption.The modern emo Christ is a fiction.Christ could throw a punch. — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) May 24, 2013

"Christ could throw a punch," says Erickson, and I bet a lot of gay kids know what that feels like, don't they? They get punched and kicked and spit on and even killed so people like Erick Erickson can feel like they're on the right side of their God.

Whether you're a believer or not, there's no doubt that the "wrath, vengeance, and redemption" Erickson projects onto his God comes directly from his own heart. He's the one who's angry, and he's the one who wants revenge against what, kids being gay? What, exactly did they do to you that requires vengeance? Did loving someone of their own sex drive the nails into Jesus on the cross? Or does it just make people uncomfortable?

Saddened the BSA bends to the whims of political correctness. governor.state.tx.us/news/press-rel… — Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) May 23, 2013

Of course being gay might be a sin, but there's no sin quite as dirty as "political correctness," is there? There's nothing worse than demanding people be "correct" in their speech or actions, and by being "correct" Texas Governor Rick Perry means showing the tiniest shred of human decency when dealing with each other.

Has there ever been a better example of what conservatives mean by political correctness? Governor Perry is literally talking about allowing gay kids to put on a uniform and go camping without being singled out as different. It's the least possible amount of kindness you could possibly show another human being, but Perry thinks it's worthy of condemnation. He's unable to conceive of allowing gay kids – children! – to participate in character-building activities for any reason other than kowtowing to some made-up liberal straw man who wants to suppress your free speech.

Here's a tip: if you owned a hunting camp that until the 1990s was called "Niggerhead," you probably shouldn't talk about political correctness. Ever.

BSA now stands for Boy Sodomizers of America, because that's what will happen. Mark my words. — Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) May 24, 2013

Yes Bryan, that's what will happen, because Lord knows it never happened before, did it?

Allowing gay kids to be open about who they are is the worst possible news for that tiny sliver adults who use scouting to to prey on children. That's when the Jerry Sanduskys of the world strike. They tell kids it's their fault, that they can't tell anyone what's happening, and the children believe it because people like you tell them there is something wrong with them, that they should be ashamed. So they are.

You want to blame someone for adults preying on kids? Look in the mirror. Do you insist on shaming gay kids? Do you drive them to the closet? You're like Santa Claus to child predators. You're more useful than the internet.

Honestly, I cannot fathom what drives these people to be so cruel to children. They're no better than schoolyard bullies – worse, in fact, because they have the perspective of adulthood and still hate. They have something else, too: power. The power of an organization that claims to protect families. The power of media platforms on radio and TV. The power of a governor's mansion.

When they tell gays they don't get to have special rights, like having a normal childhood, or loving someone forever, when they call treating gay children like children "political correctness," when they tell those same kids God will take revenge on them for having feelings, when they say now you will be raped, that's when they show their true, ugly faces. That's when we know them.