Teen, among first female staff at Missouri camp, sues Boy Scouts for sex harassment
A teenager this week sued the Kansas City region’s Boy Scouts of America council, alleging she faced sexual harassment while working at a Missouri summer camp.
In the lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, the 17-year-old girl, who was among the first group of female staffers at H. Roe Bartle Scout Camp, said it was apparent females were being treated differently than males. She is not named in the suit because she is a minor.
The teenager had been a Scout for four years — two within the Boy Scout organization, which allowed girls to join in 2017. In May, she was hired as one of the first six female staffers on the 4,200-acre reservation near Osceola. She worked there for about 12 days.
Among the allegations, the girl said she was not given a safe place to change and was offered alcohol and marijuana by staffers. One time, she was asked by a more senior employee during an activity, “Who on staff has the biggest dick?”
Brick Huffman, executive for the Boy Scouts’ Heart of America Council, 10210 Holmes Road in Kansas City, said the organization could not provide a comment on the specifics of the lawsuit.
“We are looking into this matter and can assure you that the conduct alleged in the complaint runs counter to everything Scouting represents,” Huffman said in a statement. “Scouting members and staff are taught and expected to treat all people with kindness and respect, and there is no place in Scouting for bullying or harassment of any kind.”
One staff member, the suit claimed, was known for carrying around a book called, “How to Live with a Huge Penis.” Boys would estimate the size of their genitalia on a measuring tape inside the book, according to the lawsuit.
In another instance, the teenager said she was reprimanded for accidentally dropping her sports bra, while male staffers walked back and forth from the showers in boxers and towels.
The behavior described in the lawsuit, her attorneys said, violated a youth protection policy.
The girl’s attorneys said she was then fired for leaving camp with her boyfriend, despite having permission. After, she reported staffers who had drugs and alcohol, most of whom, if not all, were male, but they kept their jobs, according to the lawsuit.
Camp leadership shared the girl’s report with staff, which her attorneys say constituted retaliation. Leadership also allowed their employees to hide contraband in a community box within 24 hours, according to the suit.
The girl has since been harassed by former co-workers, the suit says.
Huffman said his council strives to create a safe and welcoming environment for everyone involved in Scouting.
“Prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and harassment are unacceptable in our organization,” Huffman said.
Among other allegations in the court filing, the teen, who was a camper at the time, said a program director in 2019 gave lap dances in a tight suit to some staffers on the night their contracts ended. Then, he and another staff member ran to a campfire in a “thong costume, exposing their bottoms.” The new staffers looked uncomfortable, the suit alleged.
Later, the girl, then 16, went to a campground where staff members were drinking. Some were so drunk “they could not say their own names,” the girl’s attorneys wrote.
During her employment, one policy — which requires a male and female adult be present when speaking with a young member — was violated on several occasions, according to the lawsuit.
The girl also said she was denied admittance to Mic-O-Say, an honor program that bases some of its traditions in Native American culture but has been criticized by indigenous people.
The petition, filed by the teen’s mother, seeks damages in excess of $25,000.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 2:17 PM.
