Last week, the Boy Scouts of America reaffirmed its longstanding policy of banning gays from being scouts or scout leaders.

Now a number of straight men who’ve received the group’s highest honor — the ranking of Eagle Scout — are returning their medals in protest.

Requiring 21 merit badges and a year-long community service project, becoming an Eagle Scout is no easy feat, and it carries with it some serious perks even in adulthood.

But for Christopher Baker, the decision to return his medal to the BSA was a simple one. In a letter to Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazzuca and the BSA National Executive Board, he wrote in part:

As a Boy Scout I was taught that ethics are important and that when something is unethical you should stand up and say something … Homosexuality is not a moral deviance, bigotry is … I am returning my Eagle Scout medal because I do not want to be associated with the bigotry for which it now stands. I hope that one day BSA stands up for all boys.

Along with the letter, he enclosed his coveted Eagle Scout medal. And he’s not the only one — Baker’s wife is a writer for the popular website BoingBoing, and she’s posted copies of the letters sent by at least a dozen other men who’ve followed suit.

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