Boy Scouts of America Ends Ban on Openly Gay Leaders
The new policy still allows church-organized local units to consider sexual orientation when deciding who can volunteer and lead Scout groups.
Boy Scouts march in Seattle's 2013 Pride parade. (seattleforge / CC BY-SA 2.0)
The national governing body of the Boy Scouts of America voted Monday to remove the group’s ban on openly gay adult leaders and employees. This puts an end to a policy that has deeply divided the membership of the 105-year-old Texas-based organization.
San Diego’s LGBT Weekly reports:
Today, the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) ratified a resolution that removed the national restriction on openly gay adult leaders and employees. Of those present and voting, 79 percent voted in favor of the resolution. The resolution was recommended for ratification by the Executive Committee earlier this month. The resolution is effective immediately.
The new policy, which bars discrimination based on the sexual orientation of organization employees, still allows church-organized local units to consider an individual’s sexual orientation when deciding who can volunteer and lead Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, and Venturing crews.
According to a release issued by the BSA today: “Chartered organizations will continue to select their adult leaders and religious chartered organizations may continue to use religious beliefs as criteria for selecting adult leaders, including matters of sexuality. This change allows Scouting’s members and parents to select local units, chartered to organizations with similar beliefs, that best meet the needs of their families. This change also respects the right of religious chartered organizations to choose adult volunteer leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own.
“Moving forward, we will continue to focus on reaching and serving youth, helping them grow into good, strong citizens. By focusing on the goals that unite us, we are able to accomplish incredible things for young people and the communities we serve.”
HRC President Chad Griffin issued the following statement on the BSA announcement, “Today’s vote by the Boy Scouts of America to allow gay, lesbian and bisexual adults to work and volunteer is a welcome step toward erasing a stain on this important organization. But including an exemption for troops sponsored by religious organizations undermines and diminishes the historic nature of today’s decision. Discrimination should have no place in the Boy Scouts, period.
“BSA officials should now demonstrate true leadership and begin the process of considering a full national policy of inclusion that does not allow discrimination against anyone because of who they are.”
Read more here.
–Posted by Roisin Davis
Your support is crucial...As we navigate an uncertain 2025, with a new administration questioning press freedoms, the risks are clear: our ability to report freely is under threat.
Your tax-deductible donation enables us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes the reality beneath the headlines — without compromise.
Now is the time to take action. Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and uncover the stories that need to be told.
Scores of lawyers are seeking settlements on behalf of several thousand men who say they were molested as scouts.
A lot of regulations went into effect Jan. 1, marking a new year that will see a lot of interesting things occur in various countries all over the globe.
Claiming they were trying to protect the public from a stone formation that took 165 million years to form, three Utah Boy Scout leaders pushed a boulder from its erosion-built perch. And posted the video online. Welcome to modern American vandalism, the public parks version.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.