I kind of wonder about all of this. Most younger boy scouts are still under the age of puberty have no experience with sexuality and may not even know their own sexual orientation, still sorting out what they learn and feel within themselves. How could an eight year-old kid possibly identify themselves as heterosexual or gay apart from how they feel about both genders within themselves with no experience with it?

Past the age of puberty and the onset of hormonal changes and increased self-awareness in the early teens, then it might be possible for them to identify themselves with a particular sexual orientation, but even then it is without actual experience.

I had several friends in my youth who later discovered themselves to be gay, about the time of high school, but only later in life did they actually have any experience with it, most of them only after their years in public schools and in college. Curiously enough, none of them were in the scouts with such activities being beyond their interests (and mine).

Agman's Muse

Sad to say, I lost two very good gay friends to AIDS when it was still a new epidemic.