According to a St. Louis area Scouting representative, youth can be gay, bisexual, or transgendered and still participate in Scouting. This means that they can self-identify as gay, bisexual, or transgendered, and that that alone will not prohibit them from being a Cub Scout or Scout.

How a person as young as the age of 6 can already self-identify as gay, bisexual, or transgendered is not addressed by the "Memorandum". Also not addressed is on what justification a person, who self-identifies as gay, bisexual, or transgendered, should keep quiet about it, especially among his peers.

The effect of the "Memorandum" is similar to President Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy," which lasted only 8 years, until being overturned by President Obama.

Although decisions to participate or not in Scouting are made at the local level, that is, between local affiliates of the LCMS and BSA, the national LCMS has in effect agreed to abide by the above change in national BSA policy (it was the national BSA organization that made the change), thus creating room for LCMS congregations and pastors to keep Scouting in their congregations, while not incurring guilt for doing so.

Think of the "Memorandum" as an indulgence.