Late last week, thousands of pages of previously private records detailing decades of sex-abuse allegations within the Boy Scouts of America were made public by an Oregon court. The records were commonly known among Boy Scout officials as “the perversion files.”
The files were admitted as evidence in a 2010 sex-abuse lawsuit in Oregon. On Thursday, that state’s highest court ordered the documents released under Oregon’s open records law.
Amidst the files were reports of alleged child molestations from the mid 60’s to the mid-80s by more than 1,200 scoutmasters and other adult volunteers nationwide - including 45 in Massachusetts.
Among those reacting locally in the wake of these revelations is Thomas Nut-Powell. He was a scout from 1955-1961 in his native State College, Penn. where he eventually earned the rank of Eagle Scout. He now lives in Brookline.
Earlier this year, in a biting letter to the Boy Scouts of America, Powell renounced his Eagle Scout award over the Scouts’ policy of not admitting gays.
He joined us in Boston Public Radio studios to discuss his reaction to last week’s revelation and share his prescription for the future of the Scouts.
Guest:
Thomas Nutt-Powell, Brookline-based Eagle Scout
