Boy Scouts of America Considers End to Ban on Gays

Coming into the 21st century, the Boy Scouts of America is currently considering an end to the ban on gay Scouts and Scout leaders. The announcement came yesterday and the new policy would remove the ban on gays that emanates from the organization’s national rules. Rather than decree a ban at the national level, the BSA is considering allowing each individual local chapter to decide instead.

“The BSA is discussing potentially removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orientation,” Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, wrote in an email. “This would mean there would no longer be any national policy regarding sexual orientation, but that the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with their organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs.”

The organization, based in Dallas, Texas, is 102 years old and currently consists of 290 local councils, over 116,000 local organizations and 2.6 million youth members. According to Smith, this new measure would allow parents to “choose a local unit which best meets the needs of their families. The policy change under discussion would allow the religious, civic or educational organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting to determine how to address this issue. The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members or parents.” The move would represent an abrupt change from previous resistance – as late as July, 2012 the organization was sticking to the ban and released a statement noting that the ban was “the best policy for the organization.”