The Boy Scouts of America are a hateful group and they deserve to have their tax-exempt status taken away.

Let me back up for a second. There’s a part of me that almost envies the troglodytes over at Fox News, so I figured I’d give it a go and take on one of our nation’s most revered youth group.

Mind you, the Boy Scouts of America hasn’t been as revered for quite some time, but it goes so much deeper than some would think.

Under the requirements for membership in it states: “while the Boy Scouts of America does not proactively inquire about the sexual orientation of employees, volunteers or members, we do not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the Boy Scouts of America.”

Oh brother.

I’ve known countless gay people in my lifetime and their orientations aren’t a distraction unless somebody brings up Bette Midler.

If an organization doesn’t proactively inquire about sexual orientation, then it shouldn’t matter what someone’s sexual orientation is. To think the Boy Scouts of America prides itself on honesty.

The bill, SB 323, was shelved Sept. 14 in the Assembly, which would have stripped the Boy Scouts and other discriminatory youth groups in California of their tax-exempt status – a massive step in the right direction.

Here’s a few of the folks the Boy Scouts of America discriminates against.

Gays – Most people probably already knew this one. The Boy Scouts of America’s discrimination of gay men is all but ubiquitous at this point. On May 23, 60 percent of the Boy Scouts of America’s national council voted to allow gay youth to become scouts, a rule that will take effect Jan. 1. However, when it comes to gay scout leaders, the organization is stoic in its resolve to stay in the last century.

Lesbians – Last year, a Boy Scouts den mother had her membership revoked because she is a lesbian. Jennifer Tyrrell was dismissed from her position after more than a year of service.

In that time, she took her cubs to volunteer at a soup kitchen, collect canned foods for area churches, raised money for the Salvation Army and participated in a conservation project for a state park.

Unfortunately, she did all the aforementioned good deeds as a lesbian, which coincides with the Boy Scouts of America’s strict moral code. Tisk, tisk.

Atheists – The Boy Scouts of America has a stance that all its’ members believe in a higher power. While their stance is a touch progressive – it recognizes two dozen monotheist religions ranging from Christianity to Islam and even Zoroastrianism – the organization is still out of touch when it comes to those without any faith in a higher power.

Section one of the Boy Scouts of America Charter and bylaws states quite candidly: “The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God.”

This notion is downright adorable. Adorable much in the same way a fat baby whose face is covered with mashed carrots is adorable.

Ex-Eagle Scout Neil Polzin, 29, saved one of his fellow scout’s life when he was only 13. The most impressive part of the feat was he did so without believing in a higher power.

If that doesn’t qualify as “the best kind of citizen” I don’t know what does. Still, once the organization  found out Polzin was an atheist, he was quickly booted out in 2009.

If the Boy Scouts of America doesn’t change its ways, I hope its tax-exempt status gets revoked next year when SB 323 is revived. Gay men are just as capable of teaching scouts how to earn merit badges, and lord knows they know how to wear a sash, and I Oughta Know.