Boy Scouts of America will soon give local troop leaders the power to choose not to discriminate against LBGT scouts, troop leaders, and den mothers ? a dramatic change from their previous blanket no-gay policy.
Ryan Andersen speaks to the media following his petition delivery to the Boy Scouts of America Chapter Office in Pleasant Hill, California in this handout photo taken October 8, 2012. A California chapter of the Boy Scouts of America is challenging the national organization by recommending that the openly gay former Scout be awarded the top rank of Eagle.
Change.org / Reuters
EnlargeThe?Boy?Scouts?of America may soon give sponsors of troops the authority to decide whether to accept gays as?scouts?and leaders - a potentially dramatic retreat from a nationwide no-gays policy that has provoked relentless protests.
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Under the change now being discussed, the different religious and civic groups that sponsor?Scout?units would be able to decide for themselves how to address the issue ? either maintaining an exclusion of gays, as is now required of all units, or opening up their membership.
Gay-rights activists were elated at the prospect of change, sensing another milestone to go along with recent advances for same-sex marriage and the end of the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
However, Southern Baptist leaders ? who consider homosexuality a sin ? were furious about the possible change and said its approval might encourage Southern Baptist churches to support other?boys' organizations instead of the BSA.
Monday's announcement of the possible change comes after years of protests over the no-gays policy ? including petition campaigns that have prompted some corporations to suspend donations to the?Boy?Scouts.
Under the proposed change, said BSA spokesman Deron Smith, "the?Boy?Scouts?would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members, or parents."
Smith said the change could be announced as early as next week, after BSA's national board concludes a regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 6. The meeting will be closed to the public.
The BSA, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010, has long excluded both gays and atheists. Smith said a change in the policy toward atheists was not being considered, and that the BSA continued to view "Duty to God" as one of its basic principles.
Protests over the no-gays policy gained momentum in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the BSA's right to exclude gays.?Scout?units lost sponsorships by public schools and other entities that adhered to nondiscrimination policies, and several local?Scout?councils made public their displeasure with the policy.
More recently, pressure surfaced on the?Scouts' own national executive board. Two high-powered members ? Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson ? indicated they would try to work from within to change the membership policy, which stood in contrast to their own companies' non-discrimination policies.
Amid petition campaigns, shipping giant UPS Inc. and drug-manufacturer Merck announced that they were halting donations from their charitable foundations to the?Boy?Scouts?as long as the no-gays policy was in force.
Also, local?Scout?officials drew widespread criticism in recent months for ousting Jennifer Tyrrell, a lesbian mom, as a den leader of her son's Cub?Scout?pack in Ohio and for refusing to approve an Eagle?Scoutapplication by Ryan Andresen, a California teen who came out as gay last fall.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/rttTSk2pyMQ/Boy-Scouts-reconsidering-anti-gay-policy
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